


"V-NATION"

by EvilAdmin



Category: Z Nation (TV)
Genre: Alternate Season 1, Canon Death, Child Death, I don't do a lot of tags because it gives too much away, M/M, Same Z-Nation Craziness, Vampire Virus, Very Light A/B/O, Wouldn't you rather be surprised?, vampire apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-27
Updated: 2020-02-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 02:06:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 13
Words: 68,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21579769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvilAdmin/pseuds/EvilAdmin
Summary: Ever wonder what Z-Nation would have been like if the virus had turned people into vampires instead of zombies?I did.
Relationships: 10K/Murphy
Comments: 162
Kudos: 159





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A while back Black_Ice_919 posted a series of pictures of Murphy and 10K with a vampire theme, and it got me wondering what Z-Nation would have been like if the gang had had to deal with vampires instead of zombies. So I rewatched S1 (again) and came up with some different scenarios ... and this story happened. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. -EA

[](http://imgbox.com/IlNp14DH)

Sitting on the ground with his back resting comfortably against a tree and his favorite fishing pole held loosely in his grip, Tommy watched the bobber attached to his fishing line float lazily across the surface of the lake, pushed along by a slight breeze coming down off the hills that smelled of pine. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, sighing with pleasure as that same breeze caressed his sweat-beaded face and helped take the edge off the oppressive summer heat. He breathed in deeply feeling completely happy and relaxed. He was so relaxed, in fact, that when he opened his eyes and saw the sun practically sitting atop the trees on the hill across the lake, he realized that he had lost track of time and it was much later than he had thought. 

Glancing at the bucket next to him, he had four fat trout which would feed him and his pa tonight and tomorrow night. His stomach gave a sudden loud rumble just thinking about fresh, pan fried fish, and he realized that he had been out here for hours without anything to eat or drink. 

With a reluctant sigh, Tommy stood up and stretched his stiff back, hearing the satisfying cracking of his vertebra as they shifted and realigned. Looking up through the branches of the trees, the clear blue sky didn’t have a cloud in sight. The sky had been streaked with crimson this morning and the old sailors saying, _Red sky at morning, sailors take warning_ , had come to mind. But with a sky this clear and beautiful, he couldn’t imagine that he had anything to worry about. Nonetheless, it was time to go home. His pa would start worrying about him if he stayed out any later. 

Tommy gathered up his rod, bucket of fish, tackle box and rifle, and after a final longing look at the lake, he backtracked through the woods headed for home. 

It was the first week of August and he felt some of his happiness fade as he realized that school would be starting up again soon. He had never been overly fond of school, but he had never actually hated it, that is not until puberty hit in the seventh grade and he had surprised everyone, his pa included, by presenting as an omega. He had always assumed he would be an alpha like his pa, but not only had he gotten his ma’s hair color, eye color, and complexion, he had also inherited her status as an omega. Male omegas were exceedingly rare, so of course living in a small town where the number one recreation is gossip, he instantly became the main topic of conversation wherever he went. When he returned to school in a couple of weeks he could look forward to people pointing and whispering about him behind his back, and the crass and often lewd comments shouted in his direction by the other students whenever there were no teachers around to intervene. The alpha boys called him a freak because they said he was just sexually confused, and the omega girls called him a freak because they basically said omegas shouldn’t have a penis. And he was only a sophomore this year. He had to endure not only this year, but two more after that. He had wanted to drop out of high school at the end of his freshman year. After all, he had everything he needed out here in the woods. He could catch his own food, and the cabin he and his pa lived in had a wood burning fireplace for heat and its own well for water. He lived a simple life and didn’t want or need much. But his pa insisted that he needed to stick it out and graduate and get a diploma. His pa told him every kid has a rough time of it in high school because that’s when you’re trying to find your place in the world and figure out who and what you want to be as an adult. 

Tommy had no clue where he fit in or what he wanted to be as an adult. He couldn’t see a male omega playing any important role in this world because he would always be considered an oddity and a freak no matter where he went or what he did. He wished his ma was still alive so he had another omega he could talk to about such things, but she had died two years back from a fever. 

The only thing Tommy knew for certain was that the only time he was ever truly happy was when he was out in the woods by himself communing with nature. 

He was brought out of his thoughts by a rustling sound in a clump of bushes up ahead. He froze and quietly lay his gear on the ground, then braced his rifle against his shoulder, sighting down the barrel toward where the noise was coming from. He was hoping it was partridges. He loved the taste of roasted partridge stuffed with cornbread, nuts and wild berries. 

The bushes rustled again, and a rabbit jumped out, plump from a summer of good eating. He lowered the barrel of the rifle and smiled as he watched the rabbit’s nose and ears twitching as it checked for signs of danger. Finally, satisfied that it was in no danger, it hopped off. Tommy supposed he should have shot the rabbit. He could have made a stew to give them a break from fish, and the pelt would have made a warm pair of earmuffs, but he just didn’t feel like it. His pa often said he was too tender hearted, probably due to him being an omega. He just simply didn’t see the point of shooting the rabbit when they had fish to eat. 

He picked up his gear and turned back toward home, but then startled to a halt when he saw a man standing ten feet away watching him. He hadn’t even heard him approach, and his pa always said he had ears like a hawk. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you,” the man said in a labored voice. 

“You didn’t. I just didn’t hear you is all,” Tommy said, not wanting the man to think he was a coward. 

Tommy studied the man. He had one hand braced against a tree and was slightly hunched over as if in pain. His face was also pale and sweaty. He looked ill. Tommy didn’t recognize him and he wasn’t dressed like folks around here. He was wearing a light green polo shirt that had seen better days, and navy blue slacks. Slacks, not jeans. He looked to be in his late 20s/early 30s with sandy blond hair, and he wasn’t half bad looking despite looking ill. Tommy wondered if the man had entered the woods for some reason and had somehow lost his way. 

“Do you need help?” Tommy finally asked. “Are you lost?” 

“No, I’m just hungry,” he said. 

“Oh. Well, here, you can have two of these fish I just caught,” Tommy said immediately, putting his gear down and walking toward the man with the bucket of fish, looking around for something he could use to wrap two of the fish up in. 

“No, that’s not what I need,” the man said. 

Tommy stopped, confused. If the man was hungry, why would he refuse the fish? Maybe he was one of those vegetarians. He had heard a lot of city folks were, but he had never actually met one. 

“So, what kind of food can you eat?” he asked, thinking he could probably take him home and make him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. 

“I need blood,” the man said simply, as if it was the most common request in the world. 

Tommy just stared at the man, confused. “I thought you said you needed food.” 

“I do. It’s been almost 48 hours since I’ve fed. I’m not feral yet, but I’m close. I just need a little to tide me over. I promise I’ll just take a little.” 

Tommy took a step back, analyzing the words, trying to make sense of them, but he had no idea what the man was talking about. The man was starting to make him nervous though. “I don’t understand what you’re asking for,” he finally said. 

“Do I have to spell it out for you?” the man said with a touch of irritation. “I’m a vampire, kid, and I need blood before I turn feral and hurt someone.” 

Tommy backed away further. Clearly this man was crazy. Maybe he escaped from some mental hospital and had been hiding out in the woods. 

“Look, Mister, there’s no such things as vampires, so if you don’t want the fish, I’m just gonna go on home. My pa’s probably wondering where I am.” 

“You been living under a rock, kid? More than half the world’s turned vampire since the virus outbreak.” 

“What virus outbreak? I haven’t heard anything about a virus outbreak,” Tommy said, frowning. “But me and my pa were up in the mountains camping the last two months, so we have been out of touch,” he added, trying to move casually back to where he had left his gun. His pa took him camping every summer during the school break, somewhere far away from civilization, and they lived strictly off the land. Tommy could hunt, fish, shoot, and use a bow and arrow and knife better than most alphas. His pa had also taught him how to recognize edible plants, how to know which bugs and grubs were nutritious, and how to make a fire without matches. 

Tommy was next to his gun now, getting ready to squat down and pick it up, but he startled when the man was suddenly standing directly in front of him. The man bent down and picked the rifle up and tossed it away. 

“It seems like you were out of touch then while the whole world was going to shit,” the man said evenly, “so let me bring you up to speed. A group of scientists employed by one of those big pharmaceutical firms down in Texas were working on a compound that was supposed to revolutionize the healthcare industry by fusing with a person’s own cells to increase their natural ability to make repairs to their body, like healing wounds quickly, fighting off cancer, mending broken bones in half the time, increasing longevity, making you look younger longer, blah-blah-blah. But somehow the compound unexpectedly mutated and infected some of these guys, and they didn’t even know it. When these guys left the lab, the ones that were infected started infecting other people they came in contact with just by breathing near them. Not everyone got infected though. Some people are naturally immune to it, and none of the doctors can figure out why. But this is what you call a “super virus,” so it spread like wildfire before anyone really knew what was going on. You see, the problem was that it didn’t seem that bad at first because it did do what it was designed to do. In fact, it worked even better than anticipated. People in hospitals who were dying of cancer or other diseases were suddenly cured. Broken bones were miraculously mended. Kids with acne suddenly had clear skin. See right here,” the man said, lifting up his shirt and pointing to an area on his smooth, pale stomach. 

“Yeah?” Tommy said warily, hoping to god this man wasn’t a perv. 

“I used to have this five inch scar from when I had my appendix out four years ago. It totally vanished after I got the virus. I also stopped needing glasses. You get the idea.” 

“It sounds incredible,” Tommy said. 

“Yeah, it is on the one hand. However, like with anything, there’s always a downside. You see, the body uses up tons of blood cells to make all these repairs. The more extensive the repairs, the more cells it uses up, and the cells have to be replenished with blood. People like me that were relatively healthy didn’t need much blood after the virus took effect and fixed us up. But the people like I was telling you about in the hospitals with the cancer and heart disease and kidney failure and stuff like that, their bodies went through massive amounts of blood cells to make the repairs, and after the change was complete their bodies were desperate to replace those cells. As it turns out, when this virus runs low on blood cells and it isn’t replenished, it starts leeching blood out of the body’s own organs. It’s painful, I can tell you. If too much time passes, the vampire goes kind of crazy with hunger and pain. They’re calling those vampires ferals because they’re like wild animals and will most likely drain and kill any human they come in contact with, which only further reduces our food source. So it’s a bad situation all the way around. There just aren’t enough humans to go around, and that creates more ferals who in turn kill more humans. 

Tommy just stared at the man. He had to be delusional. Vampires were just creatures in stories and movies that a lot of people seemed to like to fanaticize about. 

“If you’re a vampire, how come you’re out in the daytime?” Tommy asked, trying to trip the man up. 

“Look, it’s not like it is in the movies, kid. And my skin doesn’t sparkle like diamonds in the sun like those stupid Twilight movies my kid sister used to moon over. Crosses and holy water don’t work either.” 

“What about a stake in the heart?” 

“Well, who wouldn’t that kill?” the man said sarcastically. 

“So how many people got infected?” Tommy asked, still skeptical, but somehow the way the man was telling it had a ring of truth to it. 

“Half the world’s population got infected by the virus and turned vampire; the other half seem to have some sort of immunity to it and remained human. But the human population got depleted further after the initial change and bloodlust. The ones like in the hospitals who needed mass quantities of blood attacked their doctors and nurses and other patients and drained them dry, killing them. They’re calling this an extinction scale event. An apocalypse, if you will. Like humans, vampires ideally need to eat every day, but with vampires outnumbering humans now, and the fact that it takes the human body at least two days to replenish a pint of blood, things are spiraling downward fast.” 

“What’s the president doing about this?” Tommy asked. 

“The president got drained the first week by the vice president, who was old and had prostate cancer. Governments all over the world are collapsing. Everything’s breaking down now. The world’s totally going to shit.” After a few seconds of silence he said, “So, how about it, kid?” 

“Huh?” 

“I’m hungry. If you just let me drink a little of your blood, I’ll go away quietly. But the virus is starting to attack my organs to get blood and my body is starting to cramp,” he said, holding his side, face looking strained. By tomorrow I’ll turn feral and attack the first person I run into, probably killing them, which I don’t want to do. I’m asking you nicely and respectfully to please just let me have a little of your blood.” 

Tommy licked his lips, uncertain. “Show me your fangs,” he said finally. 

The man smiled, showing his teeth, and then with a soft snicking sound, two sharp looking fangs descended as if on tracks. 

“Holy shit!” Tommy said, jumping back a step. “Those…those are real!” he said, stunned. 

“I hope you believe me now. Now please, for the love of God, feed me.” 

“I live nearby,” Tommy said nervously. “Maybe we should talk to my pa first.” 

“I can’t wait,” the man said with a determined gleam in his eyes, and Tommy found himself suddenly pinned against a tree with the man pressed fully against him, and before he could say another word, the man sank his fangs into his neck. Tommy screamed at the searing pain. He couldn’t move. He was locked in place by sharp teeth clamped onto his throat. He could feel the sickening suction on his neck and hear the wet obscene slurping sounds the man was making. But then something strange happened. He felt a slight ruffling around the edges of his mind and suddenly his mind was flooded with feelings of pleasure, euphoria. His body relaxed and he started to enjoy it. He tilted his head further, giving the man better access to his throat. He was vaguely aware in the back of his mind that these feelings were not his own but must be what the man was feeling, but he couldn’t seem to find it in him to care at the moment. 

Then the man moaned, and Tommy’s thoughts were suddenly flooded with tendrils of arousal, and he moaned in response. The man was starting to grind against him, and Tommy put his arms around him and pulled him closer to increase the delicious friction that was sending sparks of pleasure from his core throughout his body. 

The man pulled away suddenly and jumped back, chest heaving, pupils blown wide, blood smeared on his lips and teeth. “You’re an omega,” he said with surprise. “Jesus Christ, I didn’t know.” 

Tommy stood there dazed for several seconds, wondering why the man had stopped touching him. However, now that the man wasn’t touching him any longer, Tommy’s thoughts started to clear, and he turned bright red as he saw the telling bulge in the front of the man’s pants and felt the heat of his own desire still coursing through his body. He put a hand to his throat and his fingers came back red. He started backing away from the man, but the man held up a hand, staying him. 

“I’m sorry, kid, I didn’t know you were an omega. It just kind of caught me by surprise. But, look, I’m not a rapist, so you don’t have to worry. But there are plenty of my kind out there who would have no qualms about it. Sex and blood is a powerful combination. It’s a dangerous world out there. If you need protection, you could come with me. I’ll make sure no one else touches you.” 

“I don’t need your protection!” Tommy said angrily, highly embarrassed about how he had reacted to the bite and wishing he had his gun. “I’m not gonna turn into a vampire now, am I?” he asked. 

“No. If you’re immune you can never turn into a vampire.” 

“Good,” Tommy said, relieved. “Now, you got what you wanted; just go away and leave me alone,” he said, storming off in the direction of home and leaving his stuff behind. He just needed his pa right now. He needed to tell him what happened and what this man had said, and his pa would know what to do. 

“Wait! Hold on a second!” 

Tommy didn’t want to turn around, but something in the man’s tone told him to wait and see what he had to say. 

“Your pa lives in that direction?” the man asked. “A log cabin about a quarter mile away?” 

“Yeah,” Tommy said, frowning at the man. “How did you know?” 

“Oh, kid, I’m so sorry. I passed a log cabin back that way before arriving here, and a group of ferals were attacking whoever was inside. If that was your pa—” 

But Tommy was already running. He realized he should have grabbed his gun first, but he was in a panic and he just needed to get home and see that his pa was safe. Maybe these ‘ferals’ had attacked some other cabin. Maybe the Campbells’. They didn’t live too far away from him and his pa. 

When he reached the cabin the first thing he saw was the open door. That wasn’t too unusual in this heat as his pa sometimes left the door open to encourage a breeze to blow through, but right now it made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He stood still for several seconds just listening. There were no sounds coming from the cabin. He approached cautiously, scanning the area around the cabin before stepping onto the wooden porch, which creaked softly under his feet. He stepped through the open door and immediately saw signs of a struggle. Furniture was toppled over, pictures were knocked off the walls, glass littered the floor. The cabin was all open space so it didn’t take him long to spot his pa sprawled on his back in front of the cook stove. Tommy ran over and knelt next to him, his heart hammering in his chest. His pa was deathly pale, his clothes were ripped and bloody, and there were bite marks all over his neck, arms, and torso. Tommy’s stomach clenched when he saw flaps of torn flesh on his pa’s torso, as if these ferals had fought over his pa like a pack of jackals fighting over a kill. 

Tommy lay his ear down on his pa’s chest where his heart should be beating, but there was no sound. He hadn’t expected a heartbeat but he had to be sure. He took his pa’s hand. The flesh was already cooling despite the warm temperature. 

“Oh, pa, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have stayed out so late; I should have come home sooner. This is all my fault,” he said, wracked with guilt. 

“If you had come home sooner, you would be dead too, kid.” 

Tommy startled, but then saw the same man who bit him standing in the doorway looking at him sadly. 

“I just wanted to check on you. I’m really sorry they killed your pa. The world sucks right now, and it’s only going to get worse unless someone can come up with a cure to counteract the virus. In the meantime, my offer still stands. If you want to come with me, I’ll give you my protection. You won’t stand a chance out there on your own.” 

“Just go,” Tommy said miserably, looking back down at his pa. There were so many emotions currently swirling through him that he thought he would explode. “I’ll be fine. In fact,” he said, looking back at the man with fire suddenly burning brightly in his tear-filled eyes, “if I were you I’d leave this area and never come back, because I’m going to make it my mission to kill every goddamn vampire who crosses my path.” 

Tommy looked down at his pa again, and when he looked back up, the doorway was empty. 

He stayed kneeling by his father’s side holding his hand and talking to him for a good hour. Finally, Tommy got up and searched for his backpack. Finding it, he dumped all of last year’s school supplies out of it, then threw in a couple sets of clothes, some deer jerky, all the ammo he could carry, a flashlight, and a canteen full of water. He also grabbed a hunting knife and his pa’s favorite rifle and took them outside It was dark out now and the insects were starting their nightly serenade. Going back inside, he took kerosene and cooking oil, anything flammable, and poured it throughout the cabin. He set it on fire with his pa’s body inside. He couldn’t live in this house after what happened, and this was how the Vikings took care of their dead, with cleansing fire. He watched his home burn while a growing hatred burned just as hot and bright inside of him. 

_I’ll kill them all. They can’t be allowed to run around loose killing people and getting away with it. I’m going to make it my goal to kill ten thousand of them. In fact, that will not only be my goal, but my new name. Tommy was a boy who lived happily with his pa, but that boy died along with his pa. Ten thousand is the man who will rid the world of as many vampires as he can, until the day comes when he either gets too old to lift a gun, or they take him down and kill him. Just let them try._

With his new goal etched firmly in his shattered heart, he slipped on the backpack and studied several sets of footprints leading away from the cabin. He followed them into the deepening night. 

He turned around just once to look back at the cabin, which was burning brightly, lighting up the night. For the rest of his life the smell of burning wood would remind him of the night his pa died. 

Tommy used his hunting skills to silently follow the tracks through the woods. Luck was with him as they had only traveled a couple of miles. Being well fed had apparently made them tired as they were all sound asleep around a small campfire when he found them. They hadn’t even posted a guard, secure in their belief that out here in the woods they would be safe. Tommy showed them the error of their ways. He made sure they were all head shots as he was worried about the healing properties of the virus as described to him by the vampire who had bit him. But, just to be certain, he used his hunting knife to cut off their heads. 

The vampires who killed his pa wouldn’t be destroying anyone else’s lives. “That’s five,” he said as he continued on into the night. The counting had begun. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoyed this chapter, don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss any updates! I will be updating regularly. 
> 
> I want to wish you all a happy Thanksgiving Holiday. I give thanks all the time for the enjoyment I have received over the years from both Z-Nation and this fandom. -EA


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! If you've been out there fighting the crowds and doing a little Black Friday shopping, here's a bonus chapter to help you unwind!

**_Two Years Later – Portsmouth Naval Prison, Infection Control Laboratory_ **

“ _Go! Go!_ ” Hammond shouted to his three remaining men as they ran ahead of him down a concrete hallway with a group of hungry ferals hot on their tails. He could hear the needy sounds they made, their moans of hunger and desperation, their teeth snapping together in anticipation of catching their prey. 

They ran through a heavy iron gate at the end of the hallway and Hammond shut it behind them with a resounding clang, jumping back quickly as grasping hands made their way through the bars trying to grab him. He was hit with the sudden claustrophobic feeling that he wasn’t shutting the V’s out, but trapping his team in. But his orders had been clear: get Dr. Merch and her team into an evac helicopter. Her research was showing great promise at finding a cure for vampirism and she may be the only hope of saving humanity. 

Hammond watched Valdez shooting one vampire after another in the head through the bars, but as the dead ones fell, others just stepped over the bodies taking their place. The blood lust in their eyes showed that they were beyond all reason, driven mad with hunger and pain. With the steady decline of humans in the world, there were more and more ferals out there killing humans. If Dr. Merch, or somebody else, didn’t find a cure soon, he didn’t know how much longer the human race would survive. 

“Cease fire, Valdez!” he said. “Just save your ammo.” 

Hammond noticed that the pressure of all those bodies pressing against the bars was starting to loosen the masonry bolts holding the frame in place. Concrete and mortar dust was sifting down onto the floor as more and more vampires filled the hallway, pressing against them. 

Hammond’s headset suddenly came to life. He quickly backed away from the noisy V’s so he could hear. 

_“Delta-Xray-Delta, this is Camp Northern Light. Come in. Delta-Xray-Delta, this is Camp Northern Light. Please come in.”_

“This is Delta-Xray-Delta!” he shouted to be heard over the din. “Who the hell are you?” he said, not recognizing the voice. 

_“This is Simon Cruller, sir. I'm a Sys Op working for the NSA at Camp Northern Light. I have new orders for you from Cent Com.”_

_New orders? That’s just great,_ he thought. “Little busy right now,” Hammond said with irritation, hoping to god the man had an update on their evac. They weren’t going to last here much longer. 

_“Yes, sir. We're about to bug out ourselves, so I'll get right to it. I have GPS coordinates for your new destination. It's the CDC Mass Infection Lab on Mount Wilson. You're to escort Doctor Merch and any other survivors to this location. It's Priority Level One!”_

“Are you sure?!” Hammond asked, heart sinking. “Those coordinates are in California!” This was definitely not good news. 

_“That's a roger, sir.”_

“Well, where's my chopper?” Hammond asked, looking back at the loosening bars, the only thing separating him and his team from a pack of bloodthirsty ferals. 

_“I'm showing that it's still inbound, sir. ETA about ten minutes. But don't you worry, Delta-Xray. I'm not going anywhere until you’re safely out of there.”_

“You just get us the hell out of here! You hear me?!” Hammond shouted angrily, as the call disconnected. _Ten minutes._ Looking at his remaining men and the loosening gate, he had to make a decision. “Valdez,” the chopper’s on the way. That gate’s not gonna hold much longer, but you and Frederickson and Graybar keep them off as long as you can. Then fall back to the lab, okay? I'll evacuate the Doc and the others. You can do this, man,” he said, seeing the fear in the man’s eyes, and squeezing his shoulder in encouragement. He’d been with Valdez since before the apocalypse and knew the man was a true soldier. He would do what needed to be done. 

Hammond ran up two flights of stairs to Dr. Merch’s laboratory, but when he entered he was surprised to see two lab techs forcing a struggling man back onto a gurney and strapping him down. There were two other men strapped to gurneys as well, all cons judging by their orange jumpsuits. She was still conducting her tests. 

“We don't have time for this,” he said, running a hand through his hair in frustration. 

“We can't stop yet! This is our last chance to test the new strains,” she said, quickly filling three syringes. 

Frowning, he said, “They don't look like volunteers to me,” noticing that all three cons were struggling to get free. 

“Millions of people are dying out there for no reason. These men are going to die to help us find a vaccine. If it works, one of them may outlive us all.” 

“Yeah, well why don't you take it then, huh!?” a tall, pale man with a beard said, looking panicked.” 

“Don't worry, if it doesn't work out, I'll make sure you don't feel a thing,” Hammond said to the man, his handgun out and at the ready.

“What? That’s supposed to make me feel better?” the man shot back sarcastically. “We got rights. We're still human you know.” 

“Five minutes, and we're out of here,” Hammond said firmly to the doctor, listening for the sound of the chopper. 

Merch gave a nod to one of the techs, and he injected a bright blue fluid into the test subject on the end, a big man with a shaved head. 

“No! No!” the man said desperately, thrashing against his bonds, trying to get free before the fluid traveling down the length of the IV tube reached the needle inserted into the juncture of his arm. Everyone watched as the vaccine slowly entered the man’s arm. 

The man’s whole body suddenly went limp, and everyone, the other two test subjects included, held their breath, hoping that it worked. But then the man bolted upright, breaking the strap around his chest, startling everyone. His eyes were now filled with blood and fangs were visible in his snarling mouth. 

“I give you mercy,” Hammond said, shooting him quickly in the head. 

Dr. Merch nodded at another tech to inject the second test subject while she jotted down a few notes about the results of the first test vaccine. 

The vaccine entered test subject two as he moaned in fear. His body suddenly went stiff as a board; then, to their horrified eyes, the flesh started melting off his body. It was a grotesque sight. Hammond jumped back as a large glob of flesh hit the floor and splattered outward. 

Hammond wasn’t sure if the man was even still alive or not, but he carefully stepped around the puddles of liquefied flesh and put a bullet between the eyes protruding in a skull-like face. “Poor bastard,” he said softly. 

Looking at Dr. Merch Hammond said, “Time to go. No more testing today .” These tests were going nowhere and he needed to complete his mission and get the doctor and her people out of here. 

“He’s right!” the remaining man strapped to the table said frantically. “Outta time! We should leave!” 

But a determined looking Dr. Merch had already nodded at one of the techs to inject the third dose. 

“No-no-no-no-no-no-no!” the third con said with desperation, watching the fluid travel down the tube and enter his arm. He dropped his head back on the gurney with defeat, heart hammering, waiting to see what horrific effects the vaccine would have on him. 

Just then there was a knock at the door. 

“It must be my men,” Hammond said, opening the door. Three ferals charged into the room. Hammond quickly shot the first one through the head, but the other two fell upon one of the techs, savagely ripping into him. 

Simon nervously jiggled his foot as he watched the helicopter finally hovering over the roof of the building where Dr. Merch’s lab was. “Finally,” he said. _“Air Cav Whiskey Bravo Six, this is Northern Light. I have eyes on your approach. You're right on top of them man. Awesome flying. Delta-Xray should be bringing out survivors any minute now.”_

He certainly hoped that was true. _“Delta-Xray-Delta. Delta-Xray-Delta.”_

Hammond shot the two ferals feeding off the tech while Dr. Merch and the remaining tech cowered against the wall. His ear piece crackled in his ear. 

_“Delta-Xray-Delta, do you copy?”_

“Yes, yes, I’m here! What’s the status?” 

_“The chopper is landing now, sir, so if you’re not already headed for the roof, I advise you to do so now with the utmost haste.”_

_Thank god._ “We’re on our way now. Thank you.” 

_“Catch you in the next life, sir,”_ Simon said, throwing off his headset and running for the bay doors. Everyone else had already evacuated the station and he just prayed to god they hadn’t left without him. He hadn’t heard the plane take off, so maybe there was a chance he could still make it. As he hit the button to open the bay doors, he saw the plane picking up speed down the runway. 

“No, wait!” he shouted, waving his arms to try and attract someone’s attention, but he was too late. The plane’s tires left the ground and the plane flew off into the misty morning, and Simon’s heart sank as he was now all alone in one of the most remote and isolated areas on the planet. 

“Come on, Doc, we’re leaving,” Hammond said, grabbing Dr. Merch’s arm and pulling her toward the door. 

“Wait!” she protested. “The third one’s still alive!” she said, pointing at him. 

“I’ll come back for him if we have time,” he said, pushing her and the remaining tech through the doorway and down the hall. 

“Don't leave me to the ferals, man!” he heard the third prisoner shouting. “Don't leave me! Don't let them rip me apart and drain me. Shoot me! Just shoot me! Shoot me or I swear I will live through this and I will hunt you down and drink your blood!” he screamed. 

“He was our last hope at finding a vaccine,” Dr. Merch said, still resisting Hammond as he pulled her toward the stairs leading to the roof. 

“Can’t you recreate that third vaccine and try it on someone else when you land?” Hammond asked. 

“That vaccine was one of a kind,” she said. “I don’t have the all the same ingredients to recreate it.” 

Just then they heard a pained scream coming from the laboratory. 

“Dammit,” Hammond said, knowing that the ferals must have found test subject three and were probably ripping him apart right now. Still, if that vaccine was the one, he had to try and save him. “Doc, if I'm not back in two minutes, you tell them to leave without me. Two minutes!” 

“No, we can’t leave you!” she said frantically. 

“Yes you can! The world is depending on you. Now go ahead! Go! Go!” he said, pushing her up the stairs. 

Sergeant Hammond shook his head wondering what the hell he was doing, even as he raced back to the lab. Even if the vaccine worked, the ferals would have ripped that man apart by now and he would most likely be dead. He stood outside the door, gun cocked, ready for anything. Or so he thought. What he saw made his mouth drop open. Test subject three was still strapped to the table with multiple bite marks on his neck and torso, but it was the vampires who held his attention. There were eight of them, and all eight were on their hands and knees throwing up blood. One of them finally stopped throwing up and looked around like he had just woken up from a dream. 

“What’s going on?” Hammond asked the vampire, holding his gun on him. 

The man looked down at his hands for a moment as if dazed, then looked at Hammond in shock and said, “I’m human again.” 

Hammond lowered his gun. _Sonofabitch, it worked!_ Looking over at test subject three, the man wasn’t moving. He ran over to him and checked his pulse. He was still breathing but he appeared to be in a coma or something. Just then he heard the sound of the helicopter taking off, and his heart sank. 

So, now all he had to do now was get this wounded con, who appeared to be in a coma, out of this feral-infested facility and clear across the entire country to California so that they could make a vaccine from his blood and save the world. 

_Fuck._


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s a nice long chapter to tide you over till next week. I hope you’re enjoying the story!

**_Six Months Later - Upstate New York, Camp Blue Sky_ **

“This is Garnett to Warren. Garnett to Warren. Over.”

_“Go for Warren. What's up Charlie?”_

“I'm at the water's edge, could use a little backup.” 

_“ETA two minutes,”_ she replied, already moving.

Two minutes later Warren was standing next to Charlie behind some trees looking over the dark lake. “What is it?” she asked. 

“I think it’s a distress signal. Been watching it for a while. It looks like a single male in a small boat.” 

“How do you want to handle it?” she asked. 

“Let's see what he wants. We can always send him back the way he came if he looks like trouble,” he said, signaling the boat with his flashlight. 

“Well, here he comes,” she said, as the boat headed for shore. 

“All right, I'll handle the meet and greet. You stay hidden here and cover me,” he said. 

“Any problems, you hit the ground and I'll take care of the rest,” she said, holding up her gun for emphasis. 

Charlie nodded and walked to the edge of the lake just as a small rowboat pulled onto shore. 

“That's far enough,” he said, before the man could exit the boat. “Identify yourself and state your business. A team of snipers has you covered, so no sudden moves.”

“Lieutenant Mark Hammond, Delta Force. Or least I was when there was still a Delta Force. I'm on a mission from what's left of the government, and I need your help.” 

“What mission? For what government?” Charlie said, looking the man over. He was wearing army fatigues and had a sizable scar on the left side of his face, indicating he’d seen some action. He also looked exhausted. 

“Look,” Hammond said, “to be honest I don't know if anybody that gave me the order is still alive. I do know it's imperative that I get this person to a medical lab in California.” 

“Well I guess I won't shoot him…yet,” Warren said, coming out of her hiding spot to stand next to Charlie, gun visible, although she was aiming it at the ground. 

Charlie shone his flashlight in the boat and spotted the second man. He hadn’t even seen him. He was lying on the bottom of the boat and appeared to be unconscious. “Who is he and what’s wrong with him?” Charlie asked. 

“Is he even still alive?” Warren asked. 

“He’s alive. There was an…incident, and he’s in a coma now. But he’s alive. And this man may just be the last best chance to save humanity” 

“Is he a doctor?” Charlie asked. 

“No. But I swear to you he’s our best chance at finding a cure for the VN1 virus.” 

“What’s his name?” Warren asked. 

“I…don’t actually know his name,” Lieutenant Hammond admitted, looking a bit uncomfortable. 

Charlie and Roberta exchanged a look, but then Charlie shrugged and said, “Let’s take them back to base.” 

Hammond threw the unconscious man over his shoulder fireman-style and tiredly followed the two to their camp. 

*****

Simon was attempting to amuse himself by watching old transmissions from before the world fell apart. He hadn’t had any communication from anyone in the outside world for three weeks now, and he admitted the solitude and the lack of something to do was making him a little nuts. There was nothing worse than boredom, especially for someone with a mind as active as his. If only he could be of more help. He sat up straight in his chair excitedly as a transmission came through on his headset. 

_“Northern Light, this is CDC Mount Wilson. Repeat: Northern Light, this is CDC Mount Wilson. Over.”_

“Mount Wilson, this is Northern Light. Over,” he replied. 

_“The lab has been overrun. Operation Bite Mark abandoning location. What is the status of Delta-Xray-Delta? Over.”_

_Shit_ , Simon thought, slumping back in his chair. “Uh, Delta-Xray location currently unknown. We lost contact three weeks ago. Over.” 

_“I need the status of Delta-Xray-Delta. We need to … (static) … new coordinates Mount Wilson”._

“Wait, did not copy all of that. Repeat, did not copy. Over.” 

_… (static) …_

“Mount Wilson! Mount Wilson! Damnit!” Simon said, as the transmission cut out. Taking off his headset, he tossed it on his work station in frustration. He looked at his screens, willing them to give him something, anything. How was he supposed to find Hammond and his team when he didn’t even know where to look? Sighing in resignation, he put his headset back on and set up a program to start a sweep to try and locate Hammond’s walkie-talkie. The range on a walkie wasn’t very far, so he set the program to do sweeps in twenty-square-mile blocks on the grid starting from their last known coordinates and heading in the general direction of California. This was going to take some time. 

*****  
Hammond was led through a camp, where people gawked openly at him, and into a large tent where he deposited the coma guy onto a chair and wrapped a belt around his chest and the back of the chair to secure him in place. 

“Was he in a car accident?” Warren asked, nodding at the man’s neck brace. 

“No. I found that brace at a medical clinic and put it on him myself to keep his head from flopping around.” 

Someone walked into the tent at that point, bringing a plate of food and some water, and set them before Hammond while curiously looking at the man belted to the chair. Hammond thanked them and then immediately pulled a tablespoon out of his pack and started spooning water into his charge’s mouth. 

“So, you’re able to get him to eat and drink like that?” Charlie asked, curiously. 

“Yeah, but it’s not easy. It takes a lot of time,” he said, spooning more water into the man’s mouth. You have to tilt his head back slightly and give him one tablespoon at a time. His swallow reflex automatically kicks in and he swallows it. That’s another reason why I needed the neck brace, to keep his neck relatively straight.” 

“But what about food?” Warren asked. 

“Yeah, that’s harder. The food has to be crushed and mixed with water so that it’s pretty much liquefied. Otherwise he could choke on it when he swallows.” 

“That’s a lot to deal with on your own,” Warren said. 

“You have no idea,” Hammond said, looking exhausted. “That’s another reason why I need to rendezvous with a team that’s waiting for me. That way we can rotate taking care of him.” 

“This is Redburn,” Charlie said, as another man entered the tent. “He’s in charge here.” 

“How do you do,” Redburn said. “Charlie tells me you need some help.” 

“All I’m asking for are some basic supplies and transportation south as far as the Tappan Zee Bridge. I’m meeting a new team there, and they can take us the rest of the way to California.” 

“California?” Redburn said with surprise. “California sure is a hell of a long way.” 

“The Tappan Zee Bridge is a long way,” Warren added. 

“I wouldn't ask, but it's imperative and I’m out of options,” Hammond said. 

“How'd you find out about this place?” Charlie asked. 

“An ex-cop and some others taking shelter in a prison twenty clicks up the road said there was some National Guard that set up a camp, might be able to help me out.” 

“Ex-National Guard,” Warren said. 

“Yeah, I was with the Georgia National Guard,” Charlie said; Warren here was activated out of Missouri. But as far as I know, we're the only ones left of our unit.” 

“Look, I know there's no more chain of command, no more Guard, no more government, just a few of us out there following orders ‘cause that's what we do. I lost eight of the best men I ever served with getting this far. My orders are to take this man to a lab in California, and that’s what I intend to do. Now are you people gonna help me or not?” 

“Why is he so goddamn important?” Redburn asked, looking at the unconscious man and frowning. 

“He has information vital to the development of a vaccine for the vampire virus, and that's all I can tell you. How much more do you need to know?” 

“Warren and I can take the pickup truck, bring you to the Tappan Zee. But you'd be on your own after that,” Charlie said. 

“That's all I'm asking,” Hammond said, looking relieved. 

“If we leave now we can get there and back before nightfall,” Warren added. She and Garnett both looked to Redburn for the go-ahead. 

Redburn stood there running his thumb over his chin, clearly thinking it over. “I'm not sure we risk the truck. Or you two.” 

“Maybe I haven't been clear,” Hammond said, standing up, his voice taking on an aggressive tone. Garnett and Warren stood up too, readying themselves for trouble. “This is more important than your truck. Or anyone's life, including my own. I don't want to have to insist,” he said, making eye contact with each one of them, trying to intimidate them. “I was supposed to meet my rendezvous two days ago. This needs to happen now.” 

Garnett and Warren looked back at Redburn, preparing themselves for Hammond’s reaction if he still said no, but this time Redburn nodded in the affirmative. 

“Now listen,” Redburn said quietly to his team while Hammond was busy strapping the unconscious man into a seatbelt in the back seat of the camp’s black Ford Ranger, “if he tries to steal the truck, do what you gotta do.” 

“Always,” Warren said, touching the side of her nose before getting behind the wheel. 

“Stay in radio contact,” Redburn said, loud enough for Hammond to hear. “If we don't hear from you by tomorrow morning, we'll come looking for you,” he stated, shooting Hammond a meaningful look. 

“You'll have them back by sundown,” Hammond said, getting into the back seat next to coma guy. 

Two hours later at Camp Blue Sky, Redburn and a man named Donner were doing a routine perimeter check outside the camp. They were down by the lake when Donner said, “Why is the surface of the water rippling like that?” 

“That is strange,” Redburn said, looking over the lake with his binoculars. “Maybe it’s a school of fish swimming just underneath the surface.” 

“I could sure go for some nice fresh fish for dinner,” Donner said. “Maybe me and some of the fellas can come back after our sweep and see what we can catch?” he said excitedly. 

Redburn smiled and nodded. “Fresh fish would be a nice treat for everyone,” he agreed. 

But just then a human head rose slowly up out of the water, and the crazed eyes of a feral seemed to bullseye in on them as it moved closer to shore. 

“That ain’t a fish,” Redburn said as he raised his gun and fired, shooting the feral in the head. Satisfied, he started to turn away when he heard Donner gasp. Turning back around there were now hundreds of heads rising up from beneath the water, and hundreds of eyes trained on them. They both turned and ran, hoping they could get back to camp and lock it down before this herd of ferals reached it. 

*****

Addy and Mack were checking out the weapons that Sketchy was pulling out of the back of the car while Doc was, as usual, trying to negotiate with Skeezy for drugs. 

“I was thinking something more silent,” Addy said to Sketchy, after looking at several guns. “Like a club. And sharp.” 

“Yeah, I like how you think. Silent but effective. Check this out,” he said, pulling a shiny aluminum bat out of a compartment in the back of the vehicle and handing it to her. “Made it myself. I call it a V-whacker. You start with an aluminum bat, then customize it for the task at hand.” 

“Wow. This is nice,” Addy said, giving it a few practice swings. 

“Yeah, the spikes are hand cast from old railroad spikes, so they’re nice and strong. They're long enough to break through the skull and kill the brain, but you can still pull it out. Cuz nothing is worse than getting your pike stuck in a V, cuz then you got to drag them down to the ground, you got to put your foot on their chest; then you got to yank the thing out. And by then they got their fangs in you sucking your blood. You know what I mean?” 

“Sure do hate that,” Addy said, already loving this bat. 

“Behind you!” Mack shouted in warning, and Addy turned around to see a feral running right at her. She swung the V-whacker and smashed it in the head. 

“Nice,” Mack said, impressed with the bat. “You all right?” 

“Yeah. That was a little close. Wonder where it came from?” Turning toward Sketchy she pointed the bat at him and said, “Brutal.” 

“Told yah.” 

Just then three more ferals came out of the woods charging toward them. Sketchy, Skeezy and Mack opened fire while Addy put her new V-whacker to use, and between them they quickly dispatched the vampires. 

“Closing time,” Sketchy said, sensing things were getting a bit too hot around here, and he and Skeezy loaded their wares in a matter of seconds and drove off. 

“Where do you suppose they’re coming from?” Doc asked. 

“Yeah, I thought this area was secure,” Addy said. “We’d better get back to camp and report this to Redburn.” 

*****

“Camp Blue Sky, this is mobile one. Blue Sky, this is mobile one, over,” Warren said into her walkie-talkie for the second time. “Hey guys, I need you to get back to us. It's time for our three p.m. signal check.” Turning to Charlie she said, “Still no response." 

“Something must be wrong,” he said, looking worried. “If we don't hear from them soon, we're gonna have to go back.” 

“I don't think I can let you do that,” Hammond said, standing nearby keeping watch with his gun. 

“If something is wrong with my people, I don't give a damn about your mission,” Charlie said. “Or you.” 

“We're going back,” Warren said, heading for the driver’s side door. She was worried about the lack of response. 

Swinging his gun toward them Hammond said, “Look, I appreciate your loyalty to those folks. I do. But you don't know what I know about this man,” he said, pointing into the car. 

“Why should we believe a word you say?” she said. 

Hammond looked at them both a moment and then said, “Fine. I’ll show you.” Reaching into the back seat, he unbuckled the coma man, drug him out of the car and dropped him on the ground none too gently. “Now I’ll show you why so many good men died getting him this far, and maybe you’ll understand,” he said kneeling down. He unbuttoned the man’s shirt and pushed the sides open, then stepped to the side to give them a good look. 

“What the hell?” Warren said. “Are those…?” 

“Vampire bites. Eight of them. All at the same time.” 

“Well, I mean, it’s admirable that he survived eight vampires biting him, but that still doesn’t explain why he’s so important,” Warren said. 

“This man was given the only dose of an experimental vaccine. The facility was overrun by ferals shortly thereafter and they attacked him while I was trying to get the doctor who created the vaccine to a helicopter so she could be evacuated. When I got back, he looked like this and the vampires who bit him were all on the ground puking their guts out. Then they all turned human.” 

Warren and Charlie exchanged a shocked look. 

“They turned back human?” Warren said. 

“Holy shit,” Garnett said, running his hands through his hair and looking at the coma guy in a new light. 

“This man’s blood carries the antibodies to cure the VN1 virus. If we can get him to the lab in California, they can use his blood to make a cure.” 

_“Mayday. Mayday. Calling Camp Blue Sky. This is Doc with Thompson and Carver. What is your situation? Over.”_

Garnett grabbed the walkie-talkie. “Hey, Doc. What's going on?” 

_“Garnett? Thank God you're alive. We thought everyone was dead.”_

“I'm not at Camp Blue Sky. What's happening?” 

_“Blue Sky has been overrun,”_ Doc said, looking across the lake at the camp. He cringed as something exploded and the ground shook. _“The whole place is on fire.”_

“Survivors?” Garnett asked anxiously, exchanging a worried look with Warren. 

_“Well there was a ton of gunfire a while ago, but nothing since,”_ he replied. 

“Come on, let’s go,” Garnett said anxiously, helping Hammond get the coma guy back in the car. Warren burned rubber as they headed back toward camp. 

*****

“Oh, look, there's the escape bus!” Addy said to Doc and Mack as the long yellow school bus approached. “Thank god some of them got out,” she said with relief, but then as the bus passed them her relief turned to horror when she saw the faces of hungry ferals starring back at her through the windows. 

“Run!” she yelled, as the bus screeched to a halt, and then they heard the squeak of the bus door opening followed by the sound of multiple fast-moving footsteps running behind them. 

There were at least a dozen ferals on their tails closing in on them, and they were quickly running out of steam. They climbed a hill toward the road, and then stopped in horror as four more ferals were standing directly in their path. They could hear the vampires who were chasing them closing in behind them. They raised their weapons, ready to go down fighting when the camp Ranger plowed through the ferals in front of them and then stopped. 

“Get in!” Charlie yelled, hanging out the side window. 

Doc climbed into the back seat next to Hammond while Addy and Mack jumped into the back. Mack beat on the side of the truck yelling “GO! GO! GO!” as the first of the ferals crested the top of the hill. 

“How many more survived?” Charlie asked, turning around to face Doc. 

“Nobody.” 

“Nobody?!” Warren said, slapping the wheel in frustration. 

“Nobody,” he confirmed. “I'm sure. The camp was overrun. I’ve never seen so many ferals before. There's nobody back there but V’s. Sorry guys. We tried.” 

“It's time we moved on then,” Hammond said softly. 

“What’s with that guy?” Doc asked, looking around Hammond and motioning to the man who was seat-belted into place, eyes closed, head lolling with the motion of the car while perched atop the neck brace. 

“He’s fine. He’s just in a coma,” Hammond replied. 

“Huh,” Doc said. “Well, I guess it’s not the strangest thing I’ve seen during the apocalypse. 

“Hey, how much further to this rendezvous?” Charlie asked a couple hours later. He was still reeling from what happened at Camp Blue Sky and wondering what they were going to do after dropping Hammond and coma guy off. 

“Just a few more clicks,” Hammond said. Got some vehicles and a team of killers waiting. Wish I had ten times that.” 

They drove on in silence while Hammond studied his map. “It should be up ahead on the left. Saint Francis Catholic School. There’s a civil defense shelter in the basement. Supposedly there are still some rations left there.” 

“When was the last time you made contact with them?” Charlie asked. 

“About a month ago.”

“A month ago!?” Warren said incredulously. “That's like a year apocalypse time!” 

As they approached the fencing surrounding the school they saw bodies scattered around the parking lot, and their hearts dropped. Hammond immediately got out and checked the bodies. 

“Is it them?” Charlie called out, standing next to the truck and scanning the area for danger. “Are those your people?” 

The bodies had been lying out in the sun for at least a week, so they were in pretty bad shape, but Hammond could identify them from the uniforms and names tags on their shirts. The bodies weren’t all just soldiers though, there were civilians as well, and he frowned as he saw that some of them had bullet holes in their chests. If you want to kill a vampire everyone knows you shoot it in the head. Shoot it anywhere else and it can heal. So that would indicate that these were humans. “Yeah, it’s them,” he said tiredly, wondering what the hell went on here and what he was going to do now. How in the world was he going to get coma guy all the way to California on his own? Maybe he could convince these people to come with him since their camp had been destroyed. They seemed competent enough. 

Hammond watched as they all got out of the truck and approached him. “It looks like my reinforcements are dead, but we need to make a quick search for survivors and check to see if there is any food here.” 

“What about the church next door?” Mack said. “That’s where people tend to go in situations like these.” 

“True,” he said nodding tiredly. “Okay, Garnett and Warren, you check the school, see if there is any sign of survivors and any food in the cafeteria or in the civil defense shelter in the basement. You two check for a working vehicle and gather any weapons, he said, pointing at Mack and Addy. “And you stay with the man in the truck and keep him safe,” he said, pointing at Doc. “I’ll go check the church, see if anyone’s there.” 

Everyone looked to Charlie, but he just shrugged. 

“Where do you think the ferals are that did this?” Warren asked, watching Hammond walk away. 

“Sucked the area dry and moved on,” Doc said. 

“Okay, people, let’s get this over with,” Garnett said. “Catholic schools give me the creeps.” 

“I’ll have you know I went to a Catholic school,” Warren said. 

“Is that what made you so tough?” he teased. 

“Oh, you’d be surprised what you learn in Catholic school,” she said with a mischievous smile. 

Garnett smiled back and decided they would have to readdress that comment at a later date. 

Hammond jogged over to the adjoining church still holding onto a flicker of hope that a couple of his men had survived and maybe barricaded themselves either in the school or in the church. 

The church was a tall stone building with a bell tower and cross perched on its roof. When he reached the top of the steps and tried the door, he was disappointed to find that it opened easily. If anyone was in here, there’s no way they would leave the front door unlocked like this. But then he was surprised to hear voices. He stepped through the door and walked through the antechamber to the doorway of the large room where services were held and looked around. He saw pews, an altar, a life-size statue of the Virgin Mary, a large stained glass window in the back wall depicting Christ on the cross…and he was stunned to see about ten nuns in full habits kneeling in front of the first set of pews, praying. 

He knew nuns relied a lot of faith, but he thought they must be crazy leaving their door open like that. It’s a wonder they weren’t as dead as the soldiers and others out there. 

“Excuse me, sisters,” he said, feeling a bit awkward interrupting their prayers. 

They startled a bit, but then stood up and crossed themselves as they huddled together and faced him. 

“I’m not here to hurt you, and I’m sorry to interrupt your prayers,” he said, walking down the aisle toward them, “but I was to meet a squadron of soldiers at the school next door. I found several of them dead but I was wondering if you knew if any of them had escaped.” 

“Oh, yes, that was dreadful,” one of the older nuns said. “Those soldiers showed up about a week ago. They cleared out the school and set up some kind of camp. But then word got out that there was food, and lots of it, in the bomb shelter. People started showing up in droves. There were too many people and not enough food, and fights broke out. The soldiers shot some of the locals, and I suspect the smell of blood is what attracted the ferals. You can guess the rest.” 

“So none of the soldiers survived, that you’re aware of?” he asked. 

“I’m sorry, but we didn’t see anyone alive after the incident,” the nun said. 

“Considering what happened, I’m surprised you ladies leave your door unlocked. I mean, you are aware that vampires aren’t repelled by crosses and holy water and such, aren’t you?” 

“Oh my yes,” the older nun said, looking amused, “but we put our faith in the Lord to provide and protect us. For instance, we were just now praying to our Lord to provide us with sustenance, and then you arrived. Praise the Lord!” she said, putting her hands together and looking toward the heavens. 

“Praise the Lord!” the other nuns echoed. 

“I’m so sorry, sisters, but I’m afraid I don’t have any food. I was counting on there being food at the school.” 

“Oh, but the Lord has provided _us_ with food. Sisters, behold our sacrificial lamb,” the older nun said, clasping her hands together and smiling at Hammond. 

“Say what?” Hammond said, feeling a trickle of dread as ten sets of eyes were suddenly staring at him hungrily. He started backing away as the sisters came toward him, their black habits suddenly seeming to flutter like menacing birds of prey. He tried to raise his gun, but he couldn’t even raise it in time because his brain kept telling him it was wrong to point a gun at nuns. 

They grabbed him and started pulling him toward the altar in the front. Hammond was mentally kicking himself as he realized what an idiot he was. They were vampires. Of course they were. They left the front door unlocked hoping that idiots like him would waltz right into their awaiting arms. 

“Sisters, doesn’t the Bible frown on drinking blood,” Hammond tried. 

“ _’So Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.’_[John 6:53-56](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+6%3A53-56&version=ESV),” one nun quoted. 

“ _’Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.’_ Hebrews 9:22,” another quoted. 

“Well then what about _Thou Shalt Not Kill,_ one of the Ten Commandments!” he shouted angrily as they picked him up and placed him on the altar. 

“It would most certainly be a mortal sin to kill one our own kind, but the Lord has seen fit to elevate us into higher beings,” the older nun said. “And since we need blood, it cannot be a sin to take what we need from lesser beings in order to survive.” 

“But you used to be just like me!” he said, struggling against them as they held him down. 

“The Lord does work in mysterious ways,” the older nun said with a twinkle in her eye. “Sisters, bow your heads for grace. Sister Agnes, I believe it’s your turn.” 

“Oh, shit!” Hammond said, struggling harder. 

“Please watch your language in the house of the Lord,” the older nun admonished. 

“Are you kidding me right now!?” he said incredulously. 

“Sister Agnes, if you would please.” 

“Bless us, O Lord, and these, Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.” 

Hammond watched in disbelief as the nuns all crossed themselves, and then their fangs came out. 

“All right, sisters, DIG IN!” the older nun said. 

Charlie and Warren froze as they heard screaming coming from the direction of the church and realized it must be Hammond. They ran out of the school and toward the church with Addy, Mack and Doc on their heels. 

As they were running up the church stairs, the door flew open and a petite woman with black curly hair came running out as if she were being chased by the devil himself. When she saw them she startled to a stop and raised a knife in front of her. 

“Easy, we’re not here for you,” Addy said, “we’re here for the man screaming inside.” 

The woman looked at them suspiciously, but nodded and stepped to the side, knife still held in front of her. 

They ran into the church and froze in horror at what they were seeing. There were ten nuns standing around an altar with a statute of the Virgin Mary in the background looking down on them as they feasted on Lieutenant Hammond. His screams had stopped, so they knew it was already too late. One of the nuns looked up, dabbed her blood coated lips daintily with a handkerchief, and said, “Ah, look sisters, the Lord has sent us more offerings!” Ten sets of eyes turned toward them, and the gang turned tail and ran. They slammed the double doors behind them, looking for something to wedge into the two vertical door handles to keep the nuns from coming after them. The woman who had run out of the church was surprisingly still standing there, and she wedged her heavy hunting knife through them. The gang ran toward the truck with the woman following them, but then they heard the crash of the doors opening and knew the knife must have fallen out. 

The nuns, enhanced by the vampire virus, were surprisingly spry and were gaining on them. Doc was lagging behind and was feeling panicked as he could hear one right behind him. The loud crack of a rifle being fired startled them all and had them ducking, looking around with their weapons raised for the shooter. Doc saw a nun dead on the ground only six feet from where he was standing. There was another crack of the rifle and another nun fell, and Warren, Charlie and Mack took advantage and opened fire while the unknown sniper kept dropping nuns with pinpoint accuracy. Soon all the nuns were dead. 

Doc spotted the sniper on the roof of the school and started to wave to him in thanks, but the mystery man was already moving away. 

“That just looks so wrong,” Addy said, looking at the dead nuns sprawled all over the place. 

“Nothing in the apocalyptic world looks right anymore,” Charlie said. Let’s head back to the truck. 

I take it you want to join us,” Charlie said to woman when they reached the truck. “What’s your name?” 

“Cassandra,” she said. 

“So, Cassandra, what happened in there?” 

“I didn’t really see it,” she said. 

“How could you not see it?” Warren said. “You were in the church while it was happening.” 

“I was hiding in one of the confessionals. I came here yesterday because I had heard there were soldiers here with food and I thought it would be safe. But when I got here the soldiers were dead and the place looked abandoned. So I went into the church to see if maybe people had sought refuge there, and when I walked in nobody was there, but then I heard voices. I ducked into one of the confessionals because I didn’t know if they were human or not. When I peeked through the door I saw the nuns and started to come out, but then I saw they were dragging someone with them. They tossed her on the altar, said grace, and then they all bit her. I was afraid to leave the confessional then until I was sure they were gone. Unfortunately they spend most of their time in the church. I admit I was sleeping when I heard your friend start screaming, and I woke up not knowing where I was and started to panic and just decided I needed to get out of there. So I just ran for the doors hoping they were so engrossed in what they were doing that they wouldn’t see me.” 

Charlie wondered what the girl’s story was. She was clearly an omega, traveling alone, dressed in skimpy clothes and had marks on her arm that probably indicated some type of abuse. He sighed. He wasn’t going to leave her here. What difference would one more person make? “You can ride in the back seat,” he said. 

She started to get in the back but then froze when she saw coma guy. “Is that man dead?” she asked. 

“No, he’s just in a coma,” Warren said. 

“Uh, maybe I’ll just ride in the back,” she said, getting out. 

Doc walked up and said, “What, did sleeping beauty freak her out?” 

“Yeah. Wouldn’t he freak you out if you were seeing him for the first time,” Warren said. “Which reminds me, you’d better get some water in him, Doc,” and explained to him how to do it. 

Warren and Garnett both got in the front seat, Charlie behind the wheel, but he didn’t start the car. “Now what?” he said, looking at Warren. 

“California?” 

“How do we even know that everything Hammond told us isn't all just bullshit? How do we know where to go even if we were to reach California?” 

“How does anybody know anything anymore?” Warren said. “You just have to have a little faith.” 

“Uh, considering we just killed a whole bunch of nuns, I don’t know if that even applies.” 

_“Delta-Xray-Delta.”_

“What the hell is that?” Warren said, looking toward the back seat. 

Doc reached toward the floor and picked up a walkie-talkie. “It’s coming from here,” he said, handing it to Charlie. 

“That must be Hammond’s radio,” Warren said. 

_“Delta-Xray-Delta, come in. Delta-Xray-Delta, this is Citizen V at Camp Northern Light. Operation Bike Mark, do you copy?”_

“Hello?” Charlie said. 

_“I copy you Delta-Xray!”_ an excited voice said. _“This is Northern Light. Who am I speaking to?”_

“This is Sergeant Garnett of the National Guard.” 

_“Excellent. I need to speak to Lieutenant Hammond, Sergeant.”_

“Hammond's dead.” Charlie said. 

_“I-I'm sorry? I didn't copy that, Delta-Xray. Did you say that Hammond is dead?”_

“I’m afraid so. It just happened.” 

_“Is the package safe?”_

“Package? What package? Who is this?” 

_“Lieutenant Hammond was transporting a civilian to California. Is he alive?”_

“Uh, yes, in a manner of speaking,” Charlie said, looking at the man in the rearview mirror. 

_“Good. Good. Are you aware of Operation Bite Mark?”_

“We know that Hammond said he needed to get this guy to a lab in California.” 

_“Yes! Exactly! Listen to me! It is imperative that you get this man to California. I repeat, it is imperative that you get this man alive to California. Do you copy?”_

“But, who are you?” Charlie said. 

_“Garnett? Garnett, do you copy?”_ Simon said, and then the signal faded off the screen. “Damn it!” 

Garnett shook the walkie-talkie, but then noticed the low battery light was on. “I lost him.” 

“So?” Warren said. 

“So, it looks like we're taking sleeping beauty cross-country to California to save the world.” 

“All rightee then,” Warren said, buckling up as Charlie started the car. 

“Hey there!” they heard Doc shout out the window, waving someone over.

They all turned to see who he was waving at and saw a kid with a very nice rifle. 

“You're that sharp shooter that saved my ass, aren't you? Oh man, I want to thank you. Do you need a ride?” Doc asked, surprised at how young the sniper was. He was way too young to be out here on his own at any rate. 

The kid shrugged as if he didn’t care one way or another, but then hopped into the back with the others and banged on the side to indicate he was ready. 

“And it looks like we got ourselves yet another stray,” Charlie said to Warren as they headed out. 

“We’re just one big happy apocalyptic family on a vampire-infested road trip cross-country to California. What could possibly go wrong?” she said, putting her hand on his shoulder and smiling at him affectionately. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next chapter the gang stops in Philadelphia to look for gas and supplies and runs into a small group of soldiers, led by a coronel by the name of Tobias Campbell, who are out looking for a runaway fugitive. I hope you’ll join me then.


	4. Chapter 4

Cassandra had gotten over her initial aversion to the coma guy and was sitting next to him in the back seat of the Ranger, slumped down comfortably, but suddenly sat up straight when she noticed that they had taken the turnoff toward Philadelphia. 

“Why are we going this way? Philly's a dead zone,” she said, looking around nervously. 

Hopefully we can scavenge some gas and supplies without going too deep into the city,” Charlie replied, relaxing in the passenger seat while Warren drove. Cassandra had been pretty quiet since joining them, so he was surprised to hear her speaking up. “If we can find a working radio, we can also try to contact that Citizen V guy again.”

“Hey, is that what I think it is?” Warren said in disbelief, stopping the truck. 

“No way!” Charlie said, getting out of the truck to get a closer look. 

“Is that really the Liberty Bell?” Mack asked from the cab. 

"Proclaim liberty throughout all the land and unto all the inhabitants thereof. Yeah, that's it,” Charlie said. 

“Three years of an apocalypse, you think you've seen everything,” Doc said smiling, walking toward the bell. 

“Well, when everything went to shit they probably tried to save a little history,” Warren said, looking at the bell reverently before walking toward the fuel cap and opening it up. “If this thing still has fuel,” she said, inserting a homemade dipstick into the fuel tank and checking it “and it looks like it does, and if we get it started, they won't have to ride out in the open like that.” 

“Well I'm all for that,” Doc said. 

“I'll grab the jumper cables,” Mack said, hopping out of the back of the truck. 

Doc was circling the bell and said, “God bless the human race. We’re on the verge of extinction yet someone still has time to run around with a spray can defacing historical monuments,” he said, shaking his head at the graffiti on the back of the bell. He flinched at the sound of a gunshot, but then relaxed as he heard the kid say, “One thousand seventy-five” as he took down a feral that was running toward them. Doc had to admit he felt safer having the kid around. That kid had the eyes of an eagle. Speaking of which, the kid banged on the side of the Ranger to get everyone’s attention and said, “Five incoming, ten o’clock.” 

There were five men walking toward them casually, so they weren’t ferals. They were also dressed in army fatigues. 

“Check them out with the scope,” Charlie said softly to Roberta as the men approached the group. “Just because they’re in army uniform doesn’t mean they’re not vampires. Be ready for anything.” 

“Always,” Roberta said, holding a device to her eye that looked like a very small telescope. It was called a thermographic reader and it used **i** nfrared radiation to gauge body temperature. She had gotten the idea to look for one when she remembered hearing that a vampire’s temperature ran hotter than a human’s due apparently to how hard the virus constantly had to work to keep the vampires in peak physical condition. She had found the device in a military supply store when they were looking for a new battery for Hammond’s walkie-talkie, and, sure enough, when she tested it, humans were viewed in the yellow to orange spectrum whereas vampires were in the orange to red spectrum. 

As Roberta held the device to her eye, all the men looked mainly yellow to orange in infrared. “They’re human,” she told Charlie, and he relaxed slightly. 

“Hello,” the one in the middle said, holding up his hand in greeting. He was shorter than the other men but carried an air of authority about him. “I’m Colonel Tobias Campbell.” 

“Colonel,” Charlie said, and he and Roberta automatically stood at attention and saluted a senior officer. 

The Colonel nodded his approval. “Military?” he asked. 

“Former national guard, both of us” Charlie said. 

“Excellent,” the Colonel said. “We’re part of what’s left of the New Cumberland Army Base out of Fairview, Pennsylvania.” 

“Part of?” Warren said. 

“Yes. We have around 100 soldiers and civilians in a temporary camp set up nearby. Nowadays we travel around the state killing vampires and offering sanctuary to any humans who need our protection,” he said. 

“A noble mission, Colonel,” Charlie said, nodding in approval. 

“Not at all,” the Colonel said modestly, waving it off. “It’s what the military trains us for, am I right?” he said smiling. “But let me introduce you to my men. This is Corporal Travis Marshall,” he said, indicating a thin man standing next to him with bushy brown hair and a scraggly beard. “Colonel Karl Davis,” he said, indicating a tall black man. “Sergeant Bernt Wong,” he said, nodding toward an oriental man. “And Master Sergeant Samuel Davis,” he said, indicating a big muscle-bound man who had his hair pulled back into a ponytail, and who also had a nasty looking cut across the right side of his face that looked fairly recent. 

“We’re hoping you can help us,” the Colonel continued. 

“Of course, Colonel. What can we do for you?” Charlie said. 

“We’re looking for an escaped fugitive.” 

“Well, we haven’t run into any strangers, but we’d be happy to keep an eye out,” Charlie said. “What does he look like?” 

“She. This is a woman we’re looking for. She’s around 5’ 2”, slight of build, has black curly hair, dark eyes—kind of exotic looking.”

Charlie refrained from exchanging a look with Warren as he knew the woman they were describing was Cassandra, and since the Colonel hadn’t said, ‘Ah-ha! There she is!’ he knew Cassandra must have slipped away before they saw her. 

“And what is this fugitive accused of?” Charlie asked neutrally, not liking the way the Colonel's men were eyeing his people. He especially didn’t like the way Mr. Ponytail’s eyes kept wandering to Warren’s cleavage. 

“As you can see,” he said, indicating the roaming-eyed Mr. Ponytail, she attacked Master Sergeant Samuel Davis here and cut his face with a knife. 

Charlie frowned as he remembered the big knife that Cassandra had had when they first saw her running out of the church. “Any idea why she would do that? he asked. “I mean, why would such a petite woman like you described go after someone twice her size?” 

“The point is,” the Colonel said, ignoring the question, “is that she did assault one of my men, and now she’s running around out there in danger of being picked off by vampires. She needs to be brought back to camp to answer for her crime, and for her own safety.”

“Does this fugitive have a name?” Charlie asked, because he wanted to be sure there was no mistake. 

“Her name is Cassandra, but folks in camp call her Sunshine because she’s always been like a ray of sunshine to us.” 

Charlie nodded. 

“We heard she might be traveling with a group,” the Colonel said slyly. “You sure you haven’t seen her?” 

“This is my group here,” Charlie said with his arms out. “As you can see, she’s not with us. But if we do happen to come across her, how do we contact you?” 

“We’ve set up our camp at an old power station two clicks south of here. You can’t miss it. It’s surrounded by nine foot tall chain-link fencing with razor wire on top, which makes it highly defensible.” 

The wind shifted then, blowing behind Charlie’s group, and he saw ponytail’s head jerk up—finally pulling his eyes away from Roberta’s cleavage—and his nostrils flared while he scanned the group. His eyes finally stopped scanning and fixed on something over Charlie’s left shoulder, and Charlie didn’t need to turn around to see who Master Sergeant Samuel Davis was now looking at because he could smell him too. It was that boy they picked up. That sharpshooter boy who incredibly had turned out to be an omega, and who had also named himself after the outrageous number of vampires he planned on killing. What were the odds that both the strays they picked up would turn out to be omegas, both somehow surviving out there on their own? He had suspected right away that having two young, attractive omegas traveling with them was bound to cause him nothing but trouble, and this right here was a perfect example as this group of soldiers was looking for one of them and eyeing the other one. 

Charlie moved his body slightly to the left, blocking 10K from ponytail’s gaze. He was liking Tobias and his team less and less. He needed to find Cassandra before they did and get some answers. 

“Well, it was nice meeting you all,” Charlie lied, giving them his best fake smile. “We’ll keep a lookout for your fugitive while we scour the area looking for gas and provisions.” 

Tobias nodded. “Appreciate it.” Then, signaling his team, the Colonel and his men moved on. Charlie frowned as he noticed that ponytail took one more look back at 10K. In fact, the whole group noticed it and were bristling on 10K’s behalf. 

“What’d you make of them?” Charlie asked Roberta. 

“Wouldn’t want to meet any of them in a dark alley,” she said. 

“Yeah, I got the same feeling. We need to find Cassandra before they do. I don’t know why she attacked that man, but I could venture a couple of guesses.” 

“You don’t mean because of all the attention he was giving Roberta’s bustline?” Addy asked in mock surprise. 

“Or the way he was eyeing 10K,” Doc added, looking less than pleased. 

“Yeah, none of those men seemed right to me,” Charlie said. “Ponytail was just more blatantly obvious.” 

“Do we really want to waste time looking for Cassandra?” Mack said. “I mean, if those guys find out we have her we may have to fight our way out of this city. Let’s not forget the mission.” 

“Seriously?” Addy said, looking at her boyfriend with her hands on her hips. “She’s one of us now. We don’t leave our people behind.” 

“If she doesn’t have a good reason for attacking that man, we may have to,” Charlie said. 

“She had a good reason,” Warren said with conviction. “Whatever Cassandra did, I’m thinking she did it to protect herself.” 

“Well, we have to look for food and gas anyway, so we keep a lookout for her at the same time,” Charlie said. “In the meantime—Addy, do you think you could look for a radio and see if you can contact that Citizen V guy and see what he can dig up on this Colonel Tobias Campbell?” 

“Sure,” Addy said. 

“We drove past a satellite dish a couple blocks back, if that helps,” 10K said, pointing back the way they came. 

“It might,” Addy said, nodding. 

“Okay, Addy and 10K will head north and look for a radio,” Charlie said; “Roberta and I will head east and look for food and gas; Mack, you head west and see what you can find; and Doc, someone needs to stay with sleeping beauty and the car. See if you can get some food and water in him. If anyone spots Cassandra, see if you can get her to come back with you. We’ll meet back here in an hour. Let’s head out.” 

“Come on, 10K,” Addy said, grabbing the boy’s arm and heading out, looking around. “I just hope we don’t run into those creeps while we’re out. They all gave me the heebie-jeebies.” 

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” 10K said, remembering the way the big one had looked at him. It had literally felt like the man was undressing him with his eyes. 

After a few minutes of walking, Addy stopped suddenly, having spotted something down a side street. “Hey, look there!” she said excitedly, running to a car. “This is a police cruiser and it should have a radio. If it works we can reach Citizen V on it!” 

Addy opened the car door and slid behind the wheel, laying her V-whacker on the seat next to her. She grabbed the handset off the radio, fiddled with the controls for a few seconds, and then said, “This is Addison Carver with Delta-Xray-Delta trying to contact Citizen V. Come in, Citizen V.” She paused, waiting for a reply, and was just about to try again when Citizen V’s voice crackled over the radio. 

_“Delta-Xray-Delta, this is Citizen V. Do you copy? Over.”_

“Copy you loud and clear Citizen V!” Addy said happily, smiling up at 10K, who was standing in front of the open door and smiled back at her while keeping an eye on the perimeter. 

_“Delta-Xray-Delta, it looks like you’re in Philadelphia. Are you calling me on a police band?”_

“That’s affirmative, Citizen V. Listen, we’re hoping you can help us. We ran into a man here by the name of Colonel Tobias Campbell and we’d like to know if you can do whatever it is you do and tell us what you can find out about him.” 

_“Sure. Give me just a few minutes,”_ Simon said eagerly, glad for the chance to help the team, fingers already flying over the keyboard. 

Addy glanced back up at 10K, but noticed he now had a perplexed look on his face. “What is it?” she asked, glancing around. When he didn’t answer she looked back at him, but he suddenly collapsed to his knees. Dropping the handset Addy grabbed hold of his shoulders to steady him and said, “10K, what is it?”

Instead of answering, 10K pulled something out of his neck and held it up. Addy saw that it was a small tranquillizer dart, just as 10K’s eyes rolled back in his head and he slumped forward onto her lap, unconscious. 

Addy looked around in a panic trying to find the source of the dart. It was probably vampires out hunting, using the darts to incapacitate and bring down their prey without damaging them. She had heard a lot of vampires were kidnapping humans and locking them up in cages in their basements so they always had a ready source of food available. Kind of like a vampire version of a food pantry. It was smart really. 

She grabbed 10K under the arms and tried to drag him into the car. If she could get him inside and lock the doors, maybe she could hotwire the car. Or maybe it would buy them enough time for the others to find them. However, trying to drag a dead weight into a car with the steering wheel in the way was not an easy task. She was pulling and tugging, making little progress, and then yipped as she felt a sting in her left shoulder. She plucked a tranq dart out of her shoulder that matched the one 10K pulled from his neck, and felt her vision grow instantly hazy. She saw figures moving toward them, and she felt a surge of panic as she recognized them through the haze. It wasn’t vampires, it was those soldiers. 

“You see,” she heard the Colonel say. “I told you another opportunity would present itself.” 

10K was yanked out of her grip and taken away, and then she felt herself being pulled out of the car and thrown over someone’s shoulder, just as everything went black. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next chapter the gang goes looking for Addy and 10K, and have a talk with Cassandra about what she knows.


	5. Chapter 5

An hour later Warren and Charlie reached the rendezvous point with a resisting Cassandra in tow. Roberta was the one who spotted Cassandra and chased her down. Cassandra didn’t want to come with them, but Warren was very persuasive. Cassandra just kept saying, “I’m not going back with them. I can’t go back.” Charlie wanted the entire group together to hear Cassandra’s side of the story so they could decide as a group whether she should continue on with them, or whether they should turn her over to the Colonel. 

They spotted Mack talking to Doc, but Charlie didn’t see Addy or 10K. He wanted to know if Addy had found a radio and succeeded in getting ahold of Citizen V, and what, if anything, he had managed to dig up on the Colonel. But it looked like they hadn’t made it back yet. They were probably having trouble finding a radio that worked. 

“Let’s head north and see if we can find Addy and 10K,” Charlie said to the group, not wanting to just stand around waiting. “Then we’re going to have a serious talk,” he said to Cassandra. 

They tossed a sheet over the coma guy so he wasn’t visible and locked him in the truck, making sure it was parked in the shade and that all the windows were cracked just a bit so he wouldn’t overheat. Then they headed out to find Addy and 10K. They had only gone a couple blocks when Mack spotted the police car with the door open. When he looked inside and saw Addy’s V-whacker lying on the seat, he immediately started to panic. 

“Addy!” he yelled, turning in a frantic circle as he looked for any sign of her. “Addy! Addy! Where are you? Oh Jesus, baby. Baby, no, no, no, no, no! Addy!” 

“You think the V’s got them?” Doc said worriedly. 

“I don’t know, but let’s see if Addy managed to reach Citizen V on this thing,” Warren said, picking up the handset. “Warren to Citizen V. Come in Citizen V, over.” 

_“This is Citizen V, over.”_

Mack tried to grab the handset but Warren held up her hand, warding him off. “Citizen V, did you receive a call a little while ago from Addison Carver?” 

_“Addy, yes I did. She asked me to check up on someone by the name of Colonel Tobias Campbell, and then she didn’t answer when I found the information and tried to get in touch with her. What’s going on?”_

“Goddamn V’s!” Mack said, clearly distraught, gripping Addy’s V-whacker. 

Roberta saw a digital camera set up on the dash of the police car, and she removed it and rewound the footage until she saw movement. “Son of a bitch,” she said, handing the camera over to Mack. “It wasn’t vampires, it was those soldiers. Those bastards took them both.” 

“Ask Citizen V what he found out about Tobias Campbell,” Charlie said to Roberta, looking grim. 

“Citizen V, Addy and 10K have gone missing and it looks like this Colonel Campbell took them. What did you find out about him? Over.” 

_“Well, he’s been in the army for over thirty years, gradually moving up the ranks, and on the surface he’s had a pretty distinguished career. But, when I dug a bit further I found mention of a couple of incidents that he was suspected of being involved in that weren’t in his file because they couldn’t be proved. First, he was accused of having some of his men beat up a superior officer after the man dressed him down in public and embarrassed him, but none of the men involved would admit that he put them up to it. And in another report he was accused of stealing army weapons and selling them on the black market, but once again it couldn’t be proved that it was him. He never seems to do the dirty work himself, so there was nothing the army could do.”_

“That sounds about right,” Warren said, looking up at Charlie. “Thanks, Citizen V.” 

_“Wait, how’s the package?”_ Citizen V called out, but Charlie and the group were already confronting Cassandra. 

“All right, let’s hear it,” Charlie said. “Why did you attack that Sergeant and cut his face?” 

“I’m not going back there,” Cassandra said frantically, trying to escape, but they had her surrounded. 

“Cassandra, no more bullshit! Two of our people were taken by the same people that were out looking for you. Tell us what you know,” Charlie said firmly. “Now!” 

“All right,” she said, looking defeated. “All right. A year into the apocalypse I was living on my own, scared and hungry most of the time, afraid to go outside for fear the V’s would get me. Then the Colonel and his soldiers showed up and told all the humans left in our neighborhood that if we joined their camp they would protect us and provide for us. It sounded like a good deal, and for a while it was. But as months passed the food got more and more scarce, and with hunger, tempers were shorter. There were about 40 soldiers and 60 of us civilians. The soldiers were mostly alphas, and as hunger and tensions rose, there were suddenly instances of civilians being beat up, and even raped. It suddenly didn’t feel safe to be with them any longer, but when people tried to leave, they weren’t allowed to. The Colonel said for the sake of the human race we needed to stay together under their protection. 

“Then the Colonel’s wife died. They got into an argument about something and she stormed off and snuck off the base and was attacked and killed by a pack of ferals. He seemed to totally lose it after that. He sent hunting parties out to capture vampires alive—he didn’t care if they were feral or not—and he would tie them to these big spits over a fire and roast them alive. They would scream for hours because the virus kept trying to heal the damage, so it took longer for them to die. Then he served the meat to us all. He said this solved our food shortage problem, and since food was really scarce at that point, we ate it, even though it sickened us to think about where it came from. At that point it was eat it or starve. 

“The next thing the Colonel did was create what the soldiers later termed ‘the meat wagon.’ He told the civilians that since his men were feeding and protecting us that we needed to take care of his men in return, that alphas had certain needs that had to be taken care of so that they could function at their best. He said that by choosing a few of us to service his men, it would make for a safer environment for the rest of the camp. So Tobias hand selected eight of us and locked us in this long trailer outfitted with cots for the express purpose of being available whenever his men felt the urge for a fuck,” she said angrily, looking around at the group. “Then he gave us all these stupid nicknames. He called me Sunshine. He was basically stripping away our former identities and turning us into whores for his men. 

“That first night was awful. None of us wanted to do this, but we had no choice. Eight men showed in. The sergeant I cut, he picked this young pretty girl that Tobias named Moonshade. Her mother was also chosen—Tobias called her Stormy. Stormy told Tobias that her daughter was only 16, but he picked her anyway. It was her first time with a man, and Samuel was not gentle with her at all. We could hear her screams of pain, but we were all under some sweating, grunting soldier at that point and there was nothing we could do to help her. 

“Samuel came back the following night and took the same girl again. The girl’s mother tried to intercede, offering herself to him instead, but Samuel is the type who likes the fear, likes the control, likes to inflict pain. The girl was still hurting from the night before, so it was even worse this time. It went on like that for some time. Then one night that bastard came in and he had been drinking. You could smell it on him a mile away. He went right to Moonshade as always, but this time was even worse. Moonshade’s mother had told her daughter that if she just laid there and didn’t react to Samuel, that he would get tired of her and pick someone else. But it didn’t work out that way. He became enraged that she was just lying there, and started beating the shit out of her to get a reaction. You’ve seen how big he is, and she was a small girl, around my size, and he was punching her with his fist. Her mother started screaming ‘He’s killing her!,’ and he was. I jumped on his back and locked my legs around his middle and my arm around his throat, hoping that if I cut off his air he would black out. He started thrashing around and slammed back against the wall, knocking me loose, and when I fell on the ground he started kicking me with his boots. I think he would have killed me, but then Stormy grabbed his arm and tried to pull him away from me. He backhanded her and sent her flying, but it gave me a chance to get to my feet. He always kept this big hunting knife strapped to his thigh, so when I stood up I slipped the knife out of its sheath, and when he faced me again I swung that knife, aiming for his throat, but he saw it coming and jerked sideways and I cut his face instead. 

“At that point I heard one of the girls yell, ‘The door’s unlocked!’ and everyone is fleeing the trailer. See, the men are supposed to lock the trailer behind them when they come in, but he was drunk and forgot. So we all run, all except Stormy and Moonshade. Stormy wouldn’t leave her daughter, and Moonshade was too badly injured to run. With six of us running in different directions, the guards were running around helter-skelter trying to catch us and I managed to escape. I’ve been running ever since. That is, until you guys found me and let me join your group,” she finished up. “I thought I was finally free of them. Am I?” she said, looking around at the group. 

The gang exchanged looks. 

“So Addy and 10K…” Charlie said, looking at Cassandra and leaving the sentence hanging. 

“My guess is they’ll be replacing me in the meat wagon,” she said. 

“I say we trade her to get Addy back,” Mack said immediately, pointing at Cassandra. 

“And what about 10K?” Doc said, looking at Mack angrily. 

“If they want her back badly enough, maybe we can trade for both of them,” he said. 

“Nobody’s trading anyone,” Warren said, putting a stop to it. “We’ll think of something else.” 

“These are dangerous people,” Cassandra said. 

“So are we,” Warren said with a determined look on her face. 

“The first thing we need to do is scout their camp,” Charlie said, “see exactly what we’re dealing with. Tobias said they’re camped two clicks south of here at a power station, so let’s move out.” 

Ten minutes later they parked their truck behind a building and walked the rest of the way toward the power station. Hiding behind some abandoned cars they checked out the area through binoculars. 

“It’s like Tobias said, the entire plant is surrounded by nine foot chain link fence with razor wire on top,” Charlie said. “There are vehicles and tents scattered all around the power station inside the fencing. And there are a lot of people milling around, soldiers and civilians. They have a few soldiers guarding the perimeter. Is that the trailer you were talking about?” Charlie asked, pointing at a long trailer parked inside the perimeter along the left-hand side close to the fence. 

“Yes, that’s the meat wagon,” Cassandra said bitterly. 

“Stop calling it that!” Mack said, running his hands through his hair and wondering if Addy was currently in there being molested. 

“Sorry,” she said. 

“Maybe we can attract a bunch of vampires and lead them over here and cut a hole in the fence and let them in. Then we can slip in and get Addy and 10K out of there,” Mack said. 

“I think you’re forgetting that there are innocent civilians in there as well,” Charlie said. 

“Cassandra even said that some of them tried to leave when things got bad but weren’t allowed to,” Warren added. “So whatever we do, we have to remember that there are innocent people in there and we don’t want them to get hurt.” 

“Well, the good news is, there’s a pickup truck attached to the trailer,” Charlie said, looking through the binoculars. “If we can get Warren inside the perimeter and to that pickup, she can hot wire it and drive the trailer off. The main problem I see is that machine gun nest they have set up,” he said pointing. “That could cause a lot of damage, and unfortunately we don’t have our young sniper to take the shooter out if he starts firing at us. So we need to get in and out of there quick. Here’s what I think we should do…” 

*****

10K woke up and licked his dry lips, frowning at the strange chemical taste in his mouth. He started to sit up, but immediately fell back as he was hit with a wave of dizziness. Frowning as he stared up at the ceiling, he realized he had no idea where he was. Nothing looked familiar. Sitting up fully despite the dizziness, he took in his strange surroundings and felt his heart leap into his throat as he saw Addy lying on a cot next to him, and she appeared to be unconscious. It was then that he noticed that there were other women standing or sitting on cots giving him pitying looks. 

“Addy, wake up,” he said, kneeling by her side. Looking at the woman closest to him he said, “Where are we? What is this place?” 

“You’re in the meat wagon,” the woman said sadly. 

10K frowned. “So, we’ve been captured by cannibals and we’re going to be eaten?” he asked. 

“No, we’re not that kind of meat,” another one spoke up. “Colonel Tobias Campbell and his men captured you, and you and your friend now have the distinct honor of playing whore to a bunch of his men,” she said bitterly. 

10K looked around more closely now, noticing the women were scantily clothed and that the only furnishings in this place seemed to be cots and a couple of chairs. 

“Shit,” he said with understanding, starting to feel panicked. “Are we in a trailer?” he asked, looking around and frowning. 

“It is. When the camp moves they just drive us along to the next destination,” the first woman said. “It’s like a prison on wheels.” 

10K tapped Addy’s cheek, trying to wake her up, but although she groaned, she didn’t open her eyes. Then the door to the trailer opened, and 10K recognized the big alpha with the cut on his face that walked in, and his heart dropped. As the man locked the door to the trailer behind him, 10K noticed how all the women were cringing back away from him as far as they could go in the limited space. But when the man looked back up, he wasn’t looking at any of them, he was looking directly at him. 10K stood up and swallowed, looking around for something to use as a weapon, but there was nothing. He wished Addy were awake. He would feel better knowing that the feisty redhead had his back. 

“I’m glad to see you’re awake, pretty boy,” Samuel said, smiling, and 10K felt a cold chill of dread run down his spine. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next nail-biting chapter, will the gang succeed in rescuing 10K and Addy, and, more importantly, will they get there in time? Join me next week for the next exciting chapter!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, where did we leave off? Ah yes…

“I’m glad to see you’re awake, pretty boy,” Samuel said, smiling, and 10K felt a cold chill of dread run down his spine. “How old are you, boy?” Samuel asked as he casually strolled toward him, already undoing his belt. 

“None of your business!” 10K snapped back with forced bravado, still looking around desperately for something, _anything_ that he could use as a weapon. But there was nothing. They had done a thorough job of making sure that there was nothing in here that the women could use as a weapon against them. 10K also noticed that the women were all pressed back against the walls of the trailer and not moving, as if afraid of drawing his attention. 

“You look like you're around 17 or 18. Ever been with an alpha before?” he asked, giving 10K that slow head-to-toe perusal that made his skin crawl. 

10K didn’t answer, but his blush must have said it all. 

“Good. You’re lucky you’re gonna have a real alpha your first time.” 

“Why? Is someone else coming?” 10K said belligerently. 

Samuel’s face darkened, but then he smiled, and it was the smile of a shark about to feed. “Oh, you got a mouth on you, boy, that’s for sure. But I got plans for that smart mouth of yours, and it don’t involve talking.” 

“Anything you put anywhere near my mouth, be prepared to lose it,” 10K shot back. 

“Oh, you are gonna be fun to break,” Samuel said with a heated gleam in his eyes, clearly enjoying the challenge. “Just like a wild horse, I’m gonna break you in and ride you hard. Then we’ll see just how smart that mouth of yours still is.” 

10K had been trying to put on a brave face to hide how truly frightened he was, but he had to face the fact that he was trapped inside a small enclosure with nowhere to go, had nothing he could use as a weapon, and was up against an opponent who was physically bigger and stronger than he was. 10K was no coward, but he was a realist, and he knew he was in a situation he could not possibly win. It was gonna take a miracle to get out of this.

He backed away as Samuel advanced on him, his heart hammering in his chest, but then his back hit the trailer wall and he had nowhere else to go. Samuel pounced. 

*****

“Okay,” Charlie said, “everyone know what they’re supposed to do?” As everyone nodded he said, “All right, let’s do this.” 

There were large gates on all four sides of the power plant, and Charlie picked the one that was the furthest away from the trailer. Walking up to the gate holding onto Cassandra’s arm while she struggled, her hands tied behind her back, he shouted out, “Colonel, I’ve got your fugitive.” 

One of the guards on duty at that gate ran to get the Colonel, leaving another guard behind to keep an eye on them. Within a couple of minutes Charlie saw the Colonel approaching with the tall black man and the Asian man by his side. Ponytail wasn’t with them, and that worried Charlie. 

“So, you found our Sunshine,” the Colonel said, smiling widely as he set eyes on her. 

“We did. And she wasn’t easy to catch. She’s quite a handful,” Charlie said. 

“Don’t I know it.” 

“What are you going to do with her?” he asked, as the Colonel signaled his guards to open the gate. 

“We’re just going to lock her up somewhere safe and let her contemplate the error of her ways,” he said in a fatherly voice. 

“Sounds more than fair.” 

Cries of alarm suddenly sounded from the back of the power plant. That would be diversion number two. The gang had found an old car and filled it with tires and oil and had set it up so that it was facing the fence at the back of the power plant. Doc had been tasked with lighting it on fire and rigging the gas pedal with a stick so that it would plow into the back fence once he saw Charlie, Cassandra and the Colonel all together at the gate. The tires and oil burning would create lots of black, foul smelling smoke that would cause confusion and chaos but not actually hurt anyone. Charlie could see a billowing mass of black smoke from here being picked up by the wind and blown in this direction. Perfect. 

“What’s going on, Colonel?” he asked with feigned concern. 

“Probably just vampires trying to force their way in, but don’t worry, we know how to deal with vampires,” he said, grabbing Cassandra’s arm and pulling her through the gate and handing her off to the Asian man while the guards secured the gate behind them. The Asian man immediately started dragging Cassandra toward that trailer, and Charlie’s hands curled into fists as he fought to remain calm. After a brief nod of thanks to Charlie, the Colonel pulled out his gun and ran toward the back fence, shouting instructions to the other soldiers along the way. 

As soon as everyone’s attention was focused on the distraction, Charlie started running along the outside of the fence toward the trailer. 

In the meantime, as soon as Warren had seen Charlie approaching the fence with Cassandra, she and Mack had gone to work cutting an opening in the fence. Since the trailer was parked close to the fence, it shielded them from view. They waited until the smoke distraction before actually slipping through the fence and running to the pickup truck hooked to the trailer. The door was locked, as Warren had feared, but Mack pulled out a slim jim and popped open the lock within ten seconds. Warren jumped into the driver’s seat and set to work hotwiring the truck. 

*****

Just like that, Samuel was on him, pinning him against the wall and grabbing his ass with both hands while grinding up against him, scenting him while licking and sucking on his neck. 10K felt like he was going to be sick. He tried to fight, but Samuel probably weighed 100 pounds more than him and was solid muscle. It was like shoving against a rock. Samuel suddenly pulled him away from the wall and started pushing him toward an empty cot, and 10K realized that if Samuel got him on that cot and got on top of him, there was no way he was going to be able to get the man off of him. He was starting to panic, which had his scent spiking, and Samuel growled low in his throat, getting turned on by the scent of his fear. 

Samuel practically threw him onto the cot, looking down at him while he slowly lowered his zipper, his breathing becoming fast and harsh. 10K tried to scramble off the cot, but Samuel grabbed him and forced him onto his hands and knees, shoving his head into the mattress with one hand while working to pull 10K’s pants down with the other. 10K was having trouble breathing with his face pressed into the mattress and wondered if Samuel was going to end up killing him. Maybe that would be better. Then all of a sudden Samuel seemed to stumble away from him, and when he looked up he saw Addy clinging to the man’s back with a murderous look on her face. 

10K was immediately filled with hope and he quickly looked Samuel over, hoping that the man had a knife or gun or some other kind of weapon on him that he could take, but there was nothing. Well, he took that back, there was one thing on him that 10K could possibly use as a weapon, and he grabbed it now. 

Samuel started slamming backward against the trailer wall with enough force that Addy was taking a pounding. 

“Let go Addy!” 10K yelled, and Addy fell off his back and slipped to the floor before Samuel could slam her against the wall again. Samuel turned on her, his face red with anger. “After I’m done with this boy you and I are going to spend some quality time together,” Samuel said snarling, “and I promise you you won’t be able to walk for at least a month. If ever!” he raged. 

He started to turn back toward 10K, but 10K had pulled Samuel’s unbuckled belt from its belt loops and leapt on the man’s back now and wrapped it around his throat, squeezing it as tight as he could. 

*****

“All right, here we go,” Warren said as the pickup came to life after she hotwired it. Mack was sitting next to her looking anxiously behind them at the trailer. 

“What if Addy’s not in there?” he asked anxiously. 

“Let’s cross that bridge when we get to it, but for now we’re going to assume that Cassandra was right and they put them both in the …” she couldn’t stand to use the term ‘meat wagon’ so she just said, “in that trailer.” She put the truck in gear and applied a little gas. She had to apply a little more gas to get the truck moving with the heavy trailer attached. She felt a weight hit the back of the pickup and her heart leapt into her throat, but when she glanced back, Charlie was in the back of the pickup with his gun out ready to defend them. Charlie was shouting something and pointing a finger off to the side, and when Warren looked, Cassandra was running toward them. Charlie had tied her hands with a slip knot so she could get free, and it looked like she had managed to escape her guard. But it wasn’t going to take long for Tobias to realize what was happening. 

Warren got the pickup moving as Charlie helped pull Cassandra into the slow moving truck. Charlie banged on the side of the truck, urging her to go faster. She could see men shouting and running in their direction now, and she pushed her foot down on the gas, trying to get more speed. 

*****

Samuel’s face was turning red as 10K choked the life out of him using the man’s own belt. As much as Samuel tried, he couldn’t get his fingers underneath the belt to loosen it. He was close to losing consciousness when the trailer suddenly lurched forward, and 10K and Samuel both stumbled sideways, and 10K lost his grip on the belt and fell off his back. Samuel faced him and Addy as he rubbed his throat, coughing and gasping for air. “Why the hell are we moving?” he muttered in a hoarse voice, still rubbing his throat, taking a quick glance out the window and seeing everyone running around like crazy. “It’s your friends, isn’t it? Well all they’re going to find when they come into this trailer is your dead bodies,” he said, coming toward them, flexing his massive hands. 

10K and Addy exchanged a look as Samuel came toward them, each gaining strength from the other. 

“You think you can take us both, asshole!?” Addy yelled. “Then give it your best shot,” she snarled with a determined look on her face. She hated this man. Hated him so much. She hated the way he had ogled Roberta at their first meeting. She hated the fearful looks the other women in this trailer were giving him. But most of all she hated what she had seen when she first woke up and saw him with his hands on 10K. He was a big man and would be hard to kill, but with 10K at her side, she thought they could take him. 

*****

Roberta was picking up speed, but not as fast as she had hoped. She would need the speed in order to ram through the gates. She cringed as gunfire sprayed the side of the truck, and she glanced quickly behind her to make sure Charlie and Cassandra were okay. She could hear the bullets also pinging on the trailer behind them, and she prayed no one in the trailer got hurt. She looked left and saw that someone was now in the machine gun nest, and whoever it was had opened fire on them. Charlie was firing his gun at the nest from the back of the pickup, but it was hard for him to aim with the truck bumping along over the uneven ground. Making up her mind in an instant, Roberta turned the wheel left and aimed the truck right at the nest. 

*****

Samuel stalked toward 10K and Addy, hatred burning in his eyes. But just then the truck turned unexpectedly and everyone in the trailer stumbled sideways. Unfortunately for Addy, she stumbled right into Samuel, and he took the opportunity to wrap his arm around her throat and start squeezing the life out of her. 

*****

“What are you doing?” Mack said with alarm, slumping down in his seat and bracing his feet on the dashboard. 

“Just stay down,” she said, as she also slouched down in her seat, just as a spray of machine gun fire shattered the windshield of the pickup. 

Roberta saw the gunner dive out of the way at the last minute as she smashed through the nest. Having taken care of him, she turned the wheel so that the truck was headed back toward the fence, hoping she would be able to work up enough speed to smash their way through it in the short distance she had. However, turning the truck to smash through the machine gun nest had taken her off her trajectory to crash through the gates, so she now aimed at a solid area of fencing between two steel fence poles and sent up a little prayer that this was going to work. 

*****

10K could only watch as Addy was being strangled to death because every time he tried to approach Samuel, the man would shift his body so that Addy was between them. 10K was starting to panic as Addy’s face was beat red and her eyes were rolling back. A shoe suddenly flew out of nowhere and hit Samuel in the side of head, and when Samuel furiously turned his head to find out which woman had thrown it, 10K took advantage of the distraction to come up on Samuel’s other side and slammed his foot into the side of Samuel’s knee. The effect was instantaneous. Samuel let go of Addy and dropped like a stone, howling in pain. 10K pulled Addy out of Samuel’s reach while she struggled to catch her breath, and 10K desperately tried to find the belt again so he could use it to try and finish the man off. As it turned out, he didn’t have to. The same woman who had thrown her shoe came charging at Samuel looking like a demon-possessed, holding a broken lightbulb. She fell upon Samuel and used the broken bulb as a weapon to stab the man in the side of his neck over and over. 10K knew she hit an artery when the blood started spurting out all over the place, but still the woman persisted. She was screaming with the kind of uncontrolled rage that indicated that this was somehow personal. Every time she stabbed him she yelled, “Die! Die! Die, you psycho sonofabitch, die!” Finally Samuel slumped to the ground unmoving, the remainder of his life’s blood pooling around his body, his eyes staring vacantly. 10K and Addy stared at the woman as she finally dropped the broken lightbulb from her blood-coated hands and curled in on herself and started to cry. 

*****

Roberta hit the fence and felt the resistance as the fencing held, and for a moment she didn’t think they were going to break through and that the engine would stall. As she glanced left out her window, she saw soldiers running toward them, all with guns, and if they didn’t make it through the fence, they were all dead. She stomped the gas pedal all the way to the floor and heard the engine whine, but then suddenly the fencing came apart and they broke free. She gave a ‘whoop,’ but her happiness was short-lived when she saw in her side view mirror that the soldiers were scrambling to get into jeeps and other vehicles. They would be on them fairly quickly as they weren’t dragging a two-ton trailer. She continued to floor the gas, but she noticed the truck was losing speed. The truck also kept trying to list to the left. That spray of gunfire must have punctured a couple of the trailer’s tires on this side, and it was slowing them down and affecting the steering. She looked around desperately, trying to think of a way out of this. She spotted a CB in the truck and picked it up, praying for a miracle. 

Simon was scanning his satellite feed, chewing his thumbnail while wondering what was happening with his team. He wondered if they had found Addy and 10K. He admitted that he had a bit of a crush on Addy after looking her up online and seeing her picture. She was quite a tomato. He didn’t suppose he would ever meet her in person though. He spotted a flashing light on one of his screens indicating that someone was using a radio, and he immediately tuned into the signal. 

“Mayday! Mayday! This is Lieutenant Roberta Warren trying to reach Citizen V. Citizen V, if you’re there please pick up. We’re in big trouble and need your help! Over.” 

_They need me!_ Simon thought excitedly. _“Lieutenant Warren, yes, I’m here. This is Citizen V. How can I help? Over.”_

“If you’re tracking me on satellite, you’ll see I’m in a pickup truck pulling a long trailer with people inside.” 

Simon frowned as he zoomed in on her signal and saw the truck and the attached trailer. _“Uh, it looks like several vehicles are in pursuit about six blocks back,”_ he said.

“That’s the problem. These are not friendlies and they have guns. If they catch up to us they will kill us! If you can see any way out of this, I’m open to suggestions. Over.” 

_Crap!_ Simon thought. He looked at his screens, momentarily feeling panicked and at a loss what to do. He was a computer whiz. How was he supposed to help with armed pursuit? Then he shook his head and snapped himself out of it and started scanning the immediate area in front of where Warren was. He wasn’t just a computer whiz, he was a genius and the best damn computer whiz there was, and if there was a way out of this mess, he would find it. His team needed him and he wasn’t about to let them down. He was about to lose hope when he spotted a situation that just might work. He ran a few calculations in his head and got back on the radio with Warren. _“Lieutenant, 100 feet ahead on your left there’s an alley. It’s an alley where storefronts have their shipments delivered and unloaded, so it’s wider than a normal alley. I need you to swing wide and turn into that alley. Over.”_

Warren exchanged a look with Mack, but what did she have to lose? She had to trust that Citizen V knew what he was doing. She spotted the alley up ahead and reduced her speed further to make the turn. Glancing in her side view mirror, the soldiers were only three blocks back. 

Warren swung wide and turned into the alley between two tall brick buildings. The blown tires made controlling the steering difficult. She cursed as she immediately had to swerve to avoid hitting a big metal dumpster and heard the trailer scrape against it. 

_“Didn’t see that—sorry”_ Citizen V said.

“What the hell?” Mack said. “Do you see what I see?” he said, pointing forward. 

“I sure do,” Warren said testily, putting the handset back to her mouth. “Uh, Citizen V, are you aware that there’s a big moving truck at the end of the alley, and I don’t think we can get past it?”

_“The truck is part of the plan, Lieutenant. It’s parked close to the right-hand wall of the alley, and if my calculations are correct, if you line up your truck and the trailer perfectly straight and aim for the center of that gap, you should be able to clear it with 10 inches of extra space.”_

“Ten inches!” Roberta said. “That’s like a hand spread of clearing on either side! If I go through there even slightly at an angle, the trailer will end up wedged between the wall of the building on the left and the moving truck on the right!” 

“Even if we make it through, what’s the point?” Mack added. 

_“The point is,”_ Citizen V said, _“once the pickup truck and door on the side of the trailer have both cleared the alley, you stop the vehicle and abandon it. The back end of the trailer will still be in the ally sitting between the wall and the moving truck, and that will block the soldiers from following you and will pen them in the alley. I noticed a lot of red heat signatures in the building to the left that you’re passing right now indicating there are a considerable number of vampires in that building. Before you exit the truck you’re going to blow your horn nice and loud so the vampires come out to see what’s going on. With any luck the vampires will see all those nice tasty soldiers trapped in the alley and take care of your problem while you escape.”_

“Damn, that could actually work,” Charlie said from the shot-out back window of the pickup, looking impressed. He and Cassandra had been listening in on the conversation with Citizen V. 

Warren nodded. It was a chance. The only one they had right now. She reduced the truck’s speed to a crawl as she approached the gap, visually finding the center and aiming for it. She looked at her side view mirror and saw that the first jeep had just entered the alley. She took a calming breath and concentrated on getting them through the tight gap. Everything was looking good as the front of the pickup entered the gap, passing the back end of the parked moving truck. But just then the jeep behind them bumped into the back of the trailer, and Roberta stopped breathing for a second as she heard one side of the trailer scrape against the brick wall and prayed the hard bump hadn’t knocked the trailer off-center. The scraping sound stopped and she continued on slowly, glancing in her side mirror to see what the guys in the jeep were doing now, but since she was between the moving truck and the wall and had the tall trailer behind her, she could no longer see what was going on behind them. It didn’t take her long to find out, though, as she heard the soldiers open fire and could see the trailer behind them wobbling as the soldiers were shooting out all the rear tires in an attempt to disable them. 

Roberta broke out in a cold sweat as the wobbly trailer kept scraping against the truck and the wall as it wobbled back and forth, and the engine of the pickup was clearly straining now. She was starting to think they weren’t going to make it. She let out a sigh of relief when the window on her side cleared the building. _Just a little further_ , she coaxed the truck. _Not far now._

“Mack, jump out and come around on my side and let me know as soon as the trailer door has cleared the building,” Roberta said. 

Mack jumped out and ran around the front of the truck and waved her on as he kept a lookout for the door on the side of the trailer to appear. “STOP!” he finally yelled, and as soon as he said it, Roberta stopped the truck and laid on the horn long and loud. This was the first time she was actually rooting for the vampires. She wanted them to come in droves and she hoped that they were goddamn starving. 

Mack ran to the trailer door, but before he reached it the door flew open and Addy and 10K jumped out, looking like they were ready for a fight. They both relaxed as soon as they saw Mack, and Addy threw herself into her boyfriend’s arms. 

Charlie saw 10K and Addy come out of the trailer and gave them both a quick once-over, looking for signs of physical or emotional trauma, and felt himself relax when they looked fine. He exchanged a look with Roberta, who breathed a huge sigh of relief herself because she had been a bit worried that they weren’t in the trailer. There were several women that also exited the trailer, and they blinked against the sun as if they hadn’t seen it in a while. 

“Is everyone out?” Roberta said, looking at the group. 

Looking around at the women, Addy noticed that the one who had killed Samuel hadn’t come out. “There’s one still in there,” she said. Addy started to go back in but Cassandra held out a hand, stopping her. “Let me,” she said, indicating she wanted to go in alone. 

Cassandra felt her skin crawl as she entered the trailer and looked around the hated place that she had been held prisoner in and forced to submit to the needs of any soldier who wanted to use her. She saw Stormy on the ground weeping next to the body of Samuel, and the blood on the woman’s hands indicated that she had somehow managed to kill him, and Cassandra felt a fierce sense of pride in the woman, knowing how the man had hurt Stormy’s daughter. She hadn’t seen Moonshade outside, and she approached Stormy with a feeling of dread. 

“Stormy, it’s me,” she said kneeling next to the woman. “It’s time to go. You’re free now.” 

Stormy looked up at her with such anguish on her face that it broke Cassandra’s heart. 

“Sunshine?” she said. “I thought you escaped.” 

“I did. But me and my friends are helping the rest of you escape. Where’s Moonshade?” she asked gently, fearing the answer. 

“When you cut Samuel and everyone tried to escape, I stayed with my daughter because Samuel had hurt her so bad. He must have broken something inside of her, because she died in my arms,” the woman said, tears streaming down her face. “The soldiers ended up recapturing all the other girls, but I was glad to see that you had escaped because you tried to help her. You tried to save my girl. I’m glad I have the chance to say thank you, because at least you tried. I got my revenge for my sweet girl,” she said, looking down at Samuel with disgust, “but I have nothing to live for now. My baby is dead,” she said, putting her face in her hands and sobbing loudly, as only someone who has experienced real loss and pain can sob. 

“Listen to me,” Cassandra said, putting her arm around her shoulder. “Do you think your daughter would want you to give up? No. You’re brave and you’re strong and you take care of people. Right now the other women are out there and they’re confused and they’re frightened, and they’re going to need someone who can help them move forward. They are going to need your strength and guidance after all they’ve been through, Stormy.” 

“Melissa. My name is Melissa,” she said, wiping her face on her sleeve. 

“I’m Cassandra,” she said, standing up and holding out her hand. “Now let’s get you out of this place,” she said with disgust, wishing she could set fire to it and burn it to the ground. 

When they exited the trailer they heard screams and gunfire coming from the alley. 

“The vampires are taking care of the soldiers for us, thanks to Citizen V,” Addy said, approaching the two women. Mack had filled her in on what happened. 

“What are _they_ doing?” Cassandra asked, seeing Roberta and Charlie working frantically between the pickup and the trailer. 

“They’re unhitching the pickup truck from the trailer so the women have a vehicle to get away from here,” Addy said. 

“Good,” Cassandra said, with approval. She had been a bit dubious about joining this group at first, but she was really liking them. They were tough but fair, and they did take care of each other. The idea of going all the way to California with a guy in a coma seemed crazy to her, but she liked the idea of leaving Philadelphia and all the bad memories far behind her.

Once the pickup was unhitched, Warren said, “Okay, ladies, who’s driving?” 

The women looked at each other, and they kept giving the alley nervous looks as if they thought the soldiers were somehow going to make it through and recapture them. But it had grown eerily quiet, so more than likely the soldiers were all dead. 

Melissa looked at the young women who had suffered alongside her and who now looked so downtrodden and defeated, and her motherly instincts kicked in. “I’ll drive,” she said to Warren. “Thank you all so much for all your help. I don’t know how much longer we would have survived in there.” Then turning to the women she said in a confident voice, “All right, ladies, who wants to leave Philadelphia and start a new life?” 

The women were all clearly anxious for that because they quickly got into the pickup. As the truck drove away, all the women were waving back at the group. 

“You didn’t want to go with them?” Charlie asked Cassandra. 

“No, I kind of like the group I’m in now. That is, if I’m still welcome,” she said, looking at him uncertainly. 

“Of course you are,” Charlie said, giving her a warm smile. 

“You’re one of us now,” Addy said, coming over and giving her a hug. 

“Okay, guys, let’s get back to Doc and our own vehicle,” Warren said. “I’m anxious to get out of Philadelphia myself. 

They ran several blocks to get back to the spot where they had left their truck with the coma guy inside, but when they reached it they saw Doc standing there looking uncomfortable. 

“Where’s the truck?” Charlie said. 

“When I got back here after doing my part of the diversion, it was gone,” he said, indicating the broken glass on the ground. “Someone must have smashed the window and hotwired it.” 

Charlie ran his hand through his hair and said, “Of all the vehicles they could have stolen, why did they have to pick that one!” 

“Wait, was coma guy in there?” Addy asked. “Holy shit!” she said, getting her answer from their expressions. 

“We can go back to the police cruiser and call Citizen V and see if he can locate the truck,” Warren suggested. 

“Oh, that’ll be a great conversation,” Doc said. “Hello, Citizen V. Sorry to have to tell you this, but we’ve lost the man who was going to cure vampirism and save the world.” 

“Jesus Christ, we’re the worst caregivers ever!” Addy said. “If he was a kid, his picture would be on the side of a milk carton by now.” 

“Even if Citizen V spotted the truck, we don’t have a vehicle to pursue it” Mack said. 

“What’s that?” 10K said, shading his eyes and looking down the block. 

“What’s what?” Warren said, trying to see what he was seeing. 

“That big lump on the side of the road,” he said. 

“You don’t think…” Warren said, and they all started running toward the lump. 

Sure enough, coma guy was lying in a crumpled heap on the side of the road. 

Doc bent down and quickly examined him. “He’s a little worse for wear, but he’s okay.” 

They all let out a collective sigh of relief. 

“Oh, thank god,” Addy said with her hand on her heart. 

“And now Citizen V never has to know how close we came to losing the savior of the world,” Warren added. 

“It sounds really bad when you say it like that,” Charlie said. 

“I know,” Warren said, scrunching her face. “But who would a thought it would be so hard to keep tabs on a guy in a coma.” 

“Right?” Addy said. “We need to take better care of him if he’s going to reach California alive.” 

“You’re absolutely right,” Charlie said. “From now on we’re all going to pitch in and make sure he’s taken care of. We’ve taken on this mission from Hammond after he went and got himself eaten by a pack of nuns, and by god we need to see it through. So we need to make sure this man is protected, fed, watered, and kept clean.” 

“I bet that’s how they found him,” Warren said. “I bet they smelled him, because he has been smelling more than a little ripe lately. Not that any of us smell fresh as a daisy,” she added with her hands up, “but I’m just saying I don’t think cleanliness was at the top of Hammond’s to-do list when it came to our friend here.” 

“I bet they smelled him and thought he was dead,” 10K said, kneeling next to the man and brushing debris off him and straightening his clothes. _He wouldn’t be bad looking if he was cleaned up a bit,_ 10K thought as he finger-combed the hair off his face. 

“Well, we’ll keep a lookout for a place where we can all get cleaned up … just as soon as we find a new vehicle with some gas left in it,” Charlie said. 

They all groaned. 

“I know, finding a vehicle with gas in it is neigh on to impossible, but this is Philadelphia and there has to be a car somewhere around here with gas,” Charlie said, starting to regret giving the pickup to the women. 

“Didn’t you say the truck with the Liberty Bell on it still had gas?” 10K asked Warren. 

“You’re right!” she said smiling. “With all that’s happened I had forgotten about that!” 

“Nice job, kid!” Doc said. “I mean, how cool to be riding around with the Liberty Bell! And it has lots of room.” 

A half hour later they were back on the road headed for California. Doc, 10K, Cassandra, Mack, Addy, and coma guy were all riding on the flatbed with the bell. 

Touching the bell reverently Doc said, “The great revolution in the history of man, past, present and future, is the revolution of those determined to be free.” When they all looked at him he said, “John F. Kennedy said that.” 

“Well let’s just hope we can get to California and they can make a cure using sleeping beauty’s blood so that we can all be free from this vampire virus and things can go back to the way they were,” Addy said. 

Nodding, they all leaned back and relaxed. 10K was sitting up with his back against the cab with coma guy stretched out next to him. They had all decided that the man needed to ride in the back and be “aired out” a little bit. 10K was unconsciously running his fingers through the alpha’s hair. The motion was soothing and it helped him relax and block out some of the more disturbing events of the day. 

It had been one hell of a day for all of them and who knew what tomorrow would bring. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next chapter the gang stops off to clean up and get a little R&R, but, let’s face it, things never go exactly the way we plan! 
> 
> I want to wish all my readers a very Merry Christmas. Be safe, everyone, and I’ll see you next week with another chapter. -EA


	7. Chapter 7

“Charlie, look,” Roberta said, pointing at a road sign. “The next turnoff will take us to Kenisee Lake RV Campground.” 

“So? We still have five hours of daylight left,” Charlie said behind the wheel, giving Roberta a questioning look. 

“Remember how we talked about making some time so everyone could clean up? Well this is that time. We have gorgeous 90 degree weather outside, and there’s a big, beautiful lake over there. I don’t know about you, but even with the windows open we all stink, especially sleeping beauty in the back.” 

“What, are you telling me you don’t like my manly smell?” he teased, raising his right arm and sending a fresh wave of B.O. her way. In answer she turned her head and stuck it out the window. “All right, you win,” he said smiling, taking the turnoff. “We could all use a little downtime anyway after Philadelphia.” 

He drove their recently acquired 1980-something Buick Skylark station wagon over the campgrounds and parked within 20 yards of a beautiful lake. They had unfortunately had to abandon the flatbed with the Liberty Bell on it because it just used up too much gas. The station wagon worked out well though because it had two full seats, plus a flat area in the back where they could stash their gear and sleeping beauty. 

Everyone in the back of the car had been dozing, but they were wide awake now and looking around the campground with excitement. As soon as Charlie stopped the car, they all immediately jumped out and walked toward the lake. The water was clear blue and beautiful, and the prospect of a cool swim in this hot weather was very inviting. Mack already had his shirt off and was working on his pants. 

“All right,” Charlie said, “Warren seems to think that we’re all a bit fragrant, so she has declared this an official bath and laundry day. So we’re going to divide into two groups. Me and Warren will get a fire going in a couple of these grills they have scattered around the campgrounds, see what we have left in the way of food, and keep an eye out for vampires while the rest of you bathe and wash your clothes, and then we’ll switch and take our turn. Who’s going to volunteer to bathe sleeping beauty? We’re all going to have to take turns doing it, so who wants to be first and get it over with? All right, 10K, thank you for volunteering.” 

“What? I didn’t volunteer,” he said, looking shocked. 

“No, you didn’t, but everyone else has already left, so you volunteered by default.” 

Looking around, 10K saw that Charlie was right. Everyone else had snuck away while Charlie was talking, and he cursed himself for not thinking of that himself. 

“Can’t I just fish instead?” he tried, tempting them with food. 

“You can fish afterwards,” Charlie said. “It’ll motivate you to get the job done quickly.” 

“But not too quickly,” Warren put in. “I want soap to touch every square inch of that man’s body, especially the extra smelly parts.” 

“Wait, you mean I have to touch his…his…”

“What I mean is, if that man comes out of that lake and I can still smell him, he’s going right back in and you’re gonna do it again,” she warned. “So make sure you do it right. Here’s a washcloth, towel, soap, and a cup. The cup is to pour water on his hair since you can’t put his face in the water. And make sure you don’t drown him!” 

“I don’t want to have to touch his junk,” 10K complained. 

“Oh, and I suppose just because I’m a woman you think I would get off on it?” she said with her hands on her hips and her eyebrows raised. 

“No-no, I didn’t mean that,” 10K spluttered. 

“You’re not going to win this one, 10K,” Charlie said, “so just do it, and it’ll be over before you know it, and then you won’t have to take a turn again until the rest of us have taken ours. So in a way it’s good that you’re getting it over with.” 

Grumbling, 10K turned around and sulked toward the back of the station wagon. Charlie came with him and helped carry coma guy to the lake. They laid him down close to the water’s edge and Charlie left him to it. 

10K stood looking down at the man with his hands on his hips, feeling aggravated. “We should just drain your blood and put it in an ice chest and leave you here,” he complained, feeling resentful as he looked over at the others and saw Addy and Mack already in the water splashing each other and laughing and having a good time. Doc was floating on his back in the water looking totally relaxed, and Cassandra was washing her hair. Sighing heavily, deciding he might as well get it over with, he took off the man’s neck brace and set it aside, then went to work removing his clothes. When he got to the man’s shorts, though, he hesitated, but Warren had threatened to make him do it again if he didn’t get the man totally clean, so he quickly stripped them off, trying not to look, although he could still feel his face getting warm. Coma guy was an alpha, after all, and he was now lying naked before him. Curiosity finally got the better of him though and he took a quick glance down. The first thing he noticed were the scars on the man’s torso. He knew that he had been attacked by ferals, but seeing the scars was a whole different story. It looked like they had tried to tear him apart. _Just like my pa,_ he thought, feeling a sudden pang of sympathy toward the man. He frowned as he noticed how pronounced his rib cage was. Clearly he wasn’t getting enough to eat. They really needed to work harder to get more food in him. Then his eyes traveled lower, as if they had a mind of their own. _Holy shit!_ he thought, as he looked down at the man’s package. He’d heard that alphas were bigger than betas, and much bigger than male omegas, but he had no idea that there would be this much of a difference. The man looked huge! Were all alphas this size? 

Swallowing thickly and trying to get his heart rate back under control, which he realized was now racing, he grabbed sleeping beauty’s ankles and started dragging him into the water. Right away he realized he was going to have to strip down as well because he was going to have to get in the water with sleeping beauty in order to bathe him, so he stripped down to his black jockeys. He saw Cassandra walking toward him looking fresh and clean. 

“Hey, if you need help I’ll wash his clothes while you bathe him,” she offered. 

Cassandra had been pretty quiet since Philadelphia, but 10K was glad to see she appeared to be okay. 

“That would be great,” he said, thinking the quicker this was over with, the better. 

“Whoa!” she said, looking down at the man. 

“What?” he said. 

“He’s huge!” 

“Oh, so that’s not normal sized?” he asked, trying to sound casual. 

“You’ve never seen a male alpha naked?” she asked curiously. 

“I was only 16 when the apocalypse happened. I haven’t really run into any situations where…clothing was optional,” he said. 

_You’re lucky,_ Cassandra thought, thinking about Philadelphia and glad it was behind her now. “Well, alphas tend to be bigger than betas, but this right here, this would be considered extra-large,” she said. 

“How is that thing even supposed to fit inside another person?” he asked curiously, realizing he knew practically nothing about sex. 

“The body can be extremely accommodating when it wants something,” she said with a little smile. 

“Hey, what you two talking about?” Doc asked, walking toward them. 

“Nothing!” 10K said, his voice higher than normal as he quickly pulled sleeping beauty into the lake till the water was up to the man’s chest, covering the pertinent parts. He could feel his face heating up. Discussing things with another omega was one thing, but he didn’t want to get into a discussion with Doc about sex. 

“Damn, these shorts are ripe!” Cassandra said, picking up sleeping beauty’s clothes and holding his shorts out at arm’s length as she took them down a ways and into the lake to wash. 

“All right, then I’ll leave you to it,” Doc said shrugging, walking away with a towel wrapped around his bony shoulders. 

10K put his own clothes in the water to soak and laid a rock on them to keep them from floating away. 

“Okay, where do I even begin?” he muttered to himself, looking down at the man. “Let’s start with the face and hair,” he decided. He used the washcloth to wash sleeping beauty’s face. That part was easy because they kept him shaved. Hammond had let a beard grow on the man, but they found all kinds of foul-smelling food stuck in it, so Warren had shaved it off. It was much more sanitary. He tackled the hair next. He used the cup and poured water over his hair, then soaped it up good, running his fingers through it to break up any tangles. After he rinsed it good he said, “You’re looking better already.” After a slight pause he said, “Okay, body next, but maybe I’ll start with the backside first.” He rolled the man over, laying his face on the towel, and went to work with the washcloth and soap scrubbing him down. He tried to think of something else while he methodically scrubbed every area of the man’s back side, but he kept getting distracted by all the physical differences between this man and himself. He’d never touched an alpha like this before, and especially not a naked one, and he had to admit there was a very small part of his omega self that felt a little thrill at having an alpha at his total mercy like this. After quickly scrubbing the man’s butt, he rolled him over, feeling a little more comfortable now. Using the washcloth he scrubbed the man’s shoulders, arms, chest, and stomach; then skipped down to his legs and feet. 

He was almost done. He just had the man’s package left. Since the man’s lower half was submerged under the water it wasn’t like he could really see anything. _Sixty more seconds and you’ll be done_ , he thought to himself, soaping up the washcloth good. _Just do it quickly and think about something else._ Taking a deep breath, he dipped the washcloth under the water and found the man’s balls and scrubbed them while thinking about going fishing, then wrapped the washcloth around his shaft and scrubbed up and down, twisting it a bit to make sure he covered the entire surface of it, all the while thinking how nice it would be if he managed to catch some fish and they all had fresh fish cooked on one of those open grills. He froze, momentarily confused as to what had brought him out of his thoughts. He realized it was the thing his hand was currently wrapped around. The thing had definitely felt big and heavy in his hand, but he could swear it felt bigger now, as if it had grown over the last few seconds. Frowning, he looked down to where his hand was under the water and saw that the tip of the man’s penis was now peeking out obscenely from the surface of the lake. Frowning, he looked up at the man’s face expecting to see a pair of closed eyelids, but instead found a pair of blue eyes staring back at him that were heavy lidded and sleepy looking, watching him with a relaxed, languid expression. 10K froze, feeling like a deer caught in the headlights. 

“Well don’t stop now,” the man said in a gravelly voice, hoarse from disuse, “I was just getting into it.” 

The sound of the man’s voice snapped 10K out of it, and, realizing that he still had his hand wrapped around the man’s cock, he jerked his hand away as if it was burned and scuttled backward like a crab. He must have also made some sort of panicked sound because the gang came running toward him from every direction. Cassandra, Addy and Mack came running toward him from the water, and Warren, Garnett and Doc were running toward him from the campground. 

“He…he’s awake!” he said, pointing at the man to divert attention away from himself, knowing that his cheeks were flaming red at the moment. 

Sleeping beauty sat up then and stretched his arms and groaned. “Jesus, I ache all over,” he said in that gravelly voice. “I wouldn’t think my back would ache like this in heaven.” 

“You think you’re in heaven?” Addy asked. 

“I must be,” he replied, standing up, looking totally relaxed with his nudity while water ran down his body. “What would you call waking up naked surrounded by half naked people and this sweet young boy’s hand wrapped around your johnson?” he replied smiling. 

“Oh my god,” 10K moaned, turned impossibly redder. 

“Hi, I’m Doc,” the man said, deciding to intervene. “What’s your name?” 

“My name’s Murphy. Alvin Murphy.” 

“Well, although it’s a nice thought, I’m afraid this isn’t heaven, Al,” he said with amusement. 

“Well, if it’s the other place, I guess it’s not so bad,” Murphy said chipperly. “Nothing like being free to act on a little naughty behavior without being judged. Am I right?” he said, looking at 10K and winking. “And, just so all you know, I’m not opposed to a little group activity,” he said, looking around and eyeing Addy and Cassandra in their wet underwear. 

“Uh, you’re not in hell either,” Doc interjected. “Well, not exactly,” he amended. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

Murphy frowned. “Good question. I don’t recognize this place though, or any of you.” 

“Do you remember how you got those bites on your torso?” Doc asked. 

“Bites?” Murphy said, looking down, his hand automatically running up his torso. “Yes. Yes, I do remember that,” he said, not smiling any longer. I…volunteered to try out an experimental vaccine. The two volunteers ahead of me both died from their vaccines. Dr. Merch injected me, but then the place was overrun by ferals and she and a man named Hammond left to catch a helicopter. They left me strapped to a table and then all these ferals found me and just tore into me. I must have blacked out at that point. I don’t know what happened after that. I’m not dead?” 

“Nope,” Doc said. “You’ve been in a coma for over six months. Apparently the vaccine worked though. Hammond said the ferals that bit you became human again. He was trying to get you to this lab in California, but, long story short, he got eaten by a bunch of nuns. So we’ve taken over for him and we’re trying to get you to California so they can make a vaccine out of your blood and save the world.” 

“California? Well where are we now?” he asked, looking around again. 

“Ohio.” 

“Ohio? In over six months you’ve only gotten me as far as Ohio?” 

“Traveling isn’t as easy as it used to be,” Doc said. “You’ve got hungry vampires, gas shortages, food shortages, and evil people to contend with,” he said, meaning Tobias and his group. “Anyway, let me introduce you to your fellow travelers. This is Warren, Garnett, Addy, Mack, Cassandra, and you’ve sort of met 10K.” 

“10K,” Murphy said, eyes lingering on the pale skinned boy who was only wearing a pair of wet black jockeys, remembering the feeling of waking up and seeing the boy kneeling next to him, working his cock. “What kind of name is 10K?” 

“It’s how many vampires he’s going to kill,” Doc said. “Uh, Murphy, I think we need to get you into some clothes,” he said, taking his towel and wrapping it around the man’s middle and leading him away, but not before everyone got a good look at how aroused he was after his bath with their youngest member. 

“Wow!” Addy mouthed, exchanging a meaningful look with Warren and earning her a dirty look from Mack, who hadn't missed where her eyes kept straying. 

“This could be trouble,” Charlie whispered to Warren. 

“Yeah. I think I liked him better when he was in a coma,” she said. 

“Yep,” Charlie said, watching Doc lead him away. Glancing over at 10K, the boy was still sitting on the ground blushing, and when he looked up and saw Charlie watching him, he gave him an accusing look, as if this was all his fault. 

“Oh yeah, this is gonna be fun,” Charlie said, following Roberta back to where they had been in the midst of preparing something for the group to eat. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait waking Murphy up, but I hope you enjoyed what finally brought him out of his coma!
> 
> In the next chapter, the gang stops off at a building to look for supplies … but let’s just say that this particular building is unlike anything they’ve ever seen before. See you next year! (Uh, that would actually be next week!)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year everyone! New year, new chapter!

“Hey, why don’t we check out that building on the right?” Addy called out from the very back of the station wagon, where she was sitting with Mack and Cassandra. Charlie was driving with Roberta riding shotgun, and the newly awakened Murphy was in the back seat with Doc and 10K. 10K had insisted that Doc sit between them despite Murphy trying to get 10K to sit next to him. They were currently cruising down Route I-70 on the outskirts of Columbus, Ohio after a, for the most part, relaxing night spent at the Kenisee Lake RV Campground. Everyone was in exceptionally good spirits as they were all clean and rested, and they were even well fed for a change thanks to 10K, who had gone off on his own to brood and fish after the highly embarrassing Murphy incident and had stayed away for several hours, but when he returned he had five nice fish and seemed to be in better spirits, although he had clearly been avoiding Murphy like the plague. 

“Why that building?” Warren called back. 

“It’s off by itself with no surrounding buildings, just a big open parking lot, so no one can sneak up on us. Plus, if it’s a school or an office building, a lot of those people kept snacks in their desk drawers. There’s a few cars outside we can check for gas, and a building like that might even have a riding lawn mower or a back-up generator that we can siphon some gas from.” 

“Makes sense to me,” Warren said, looking at Charlie. “Want to check it out?” 

“Well, we could use a quick stretch, and we’re always low on food, water and gas, so let’s see if we get lucky,” he said, turning off the expressway and heading for the lone building. 

“Good, ‘cause I have to pee,” Murphy said. 

“Jesus, you’re worse than a kid,” Doc said. “We’ve only been on the road a couple of hours.” 

“I can’t help it if I have a ginormous bladder,” he said. 

The one-story building was sitting off all by itself on a flat open plot of land with parking all around it. Charlie pulled the car up right in front of the structure, and they all jumped out and stood in front of the building, looking it over. 

“Uh, this doesn’t appear to be a school or an office building,” Murphy said, his lips quirking as he looked up at the sign. 

“Am I reading that right?” Warren asked, as the gang stood around her with mixed expressions on their faces. 

“Well, if you’re reading _The Columbus Phallological Museum, the World’s Largest Collection of Phalluses,_ then you’re reading it right,” Addy said with a big smile on her face. 

“What’s a phallus?” 10K asked, looking confused. 

“Well, let’s see,” Murphy said, coming up next to him and putting an arm around his shoulders, which had 10K stiffening. “An example of a phallus would be that little cocktail wiener you have nestled between your legs.”

10K looked at Murphy and frowned, shrugging off his arm. 

“Or, if you prefer, a better example of a phallus would be that nice big fat sausage you had your hand wrapped around when you were giving me a bath at the lake yesterday,” he said, smiling. 

“Are you telling me that this is a museum for … for …”

“That’s right, kid,” Doc said, coming up to stand on 10K’s other side and shaking his head. “This—is a penis museum.” 

“Why would anyone make a museum for penises?” 10K asked. 

“Some penises deserve to be on display,” Murphy said suggestively, jutting his hips forward slightly and waggling his eyebrows. 

“You know, I liked you better when you were in a coma,” 10K said, walking away. 

“That kid has one nice ass,” Murphy said unfazed, watching him leave. 

“You know, I think I liked you better when you were in a coma too,” Doc said, following 10K and shaking his head. 

“What?” Murphy said, throwing up his hands. “I’m only human!” 

“We’re not still going in there, are we?” Mack said, looking uncomfortable. 

“Oh, just try and stop me,” Addy replied, already heading toward the door. “This is not something you get to see every day, and I’m not missing it. This right here—this might make the whole trip to California worth it. Besides, there may still be food and gas in here. It’s a big building and they must have had employees. And lookee here, the door’s unlocked,” she said, pulling open the glass door and facing the group with a big smile on her face. “Last one in’s a rotten egg,” she shouted playfully, already running inside. 

The group all filed in through the front door, and then just stood there, looking around the place in amazement. The entry room was huge, and it was full of long dark blue counters and shelves lined with glass jars of every shape and size. There were also huge glass jars sitting on the floor or on pedestals. And in each glass jar there was a penis. 

Addy was already walking down one aisle with Cassandra at her side reading the placards set in front of each jar. “Look at this!” she said excitedly. _“The Argentine lake duck has something to quack about,”_ she read. _“Its penis is a whopping 17 inches long, proportionally the longest of all vertebrates. It's especially impressive among birds: Most male birds don't have penises, and instead mate by briefly touching genital openings with females,”_ she finished. “How about that, guys? A duck with a 17 inch penis. Look at this thing! It would be like you having a penis the length of your body!” 

Warren and Murphy went over to take a look, but Charlie and Mack were looking decidedly uncomfortable. “I think we should start looking for food and gas,” Charlie said, actually moving away from the duck penis display. 

“Sure, sure,” Warren said. “But there’s no reason we can’t enjoy the exhibits in this fine museum while we’re at it, is there? A little culture never hurt anyone,” she added with a mischievous grin. 

“Maybe the boys are feeling a little bit insecure,” Addy said wickedly. “After all, if I was a man looking at this python penis,” she said, tapping a jar where it displayed a two-pronged penis in the shape of a Y, “that might cause me a little penis envy.” 

10K was standing in front of a large round tube that was taller than he was. He seemed to be mesmerized by whatever was inside. 

“Whatcha looking at, kid?” Doc asked. 

“The card says that this is just the tip of a blue whale penis,” he said in awe. “It says if they had the whole thing, it would be about 16 feet long and weigh 770-990 pounds.” 

“Day-um! That’s one big dick!” Doc said, impressed. 

Murphy came over holding a jar that looked like a baby food jar. “I thought this was an omega penis at first,” he said, “but it turns out it’s a hamster penis. You actually have to look at it under a magnifying glass to see it.” 

10K looked at him and opened his mouth as if to say something, turned red, closed it and walked away. 

“You need to go a little easier on the kid, Murphy,” Doc said. “He’s only 18 and not as worldly as you are.” 

“That kid needs to loosen up and have some fun. He’s got a stick up his ass, and he would much happier if he had something else up there—if you know what I mean.” 

“Okay, I’m leaving too,” Doc said, shaking his head and walking away. 

10K walked over to where Cassandra was reading another card. “ _For all species of the cat family, mating is painful. It's not the biting that hurts the female, it's the male's penis, which is barbed with 100 tiny hooks._ Ouch!” she said, holding up the jar and looking at the thing. 

Christ, 17-inch duck penises, gigantic whale penises, barbed penises. 10K decided he’d had enough too. After the embarrassing nature of the incident with Murphy yesterday, this place seemed to be taunting him wherever he looked. He was never going to live that incident down, and Murphy seemed to enjoy reminding him of it at every turn. He noticed that Charlie and Mack were missing, so they must be off looking for food and gas and he decided to join them. 

10K entered another room which seemed to be penises from animals and insects from Australia. He didn’t see Charlie or Mack, but he did see a door open at the far end of the room, so he headed for it to search for food, bottled water, weapons…anything useful. But when he reached the doorway, he stopped in surprise. There was an older man with salt and pepper hair wearing a beige cardigan sitting at a desk busily scribbling something in a notebook. He seemed to sense 10K’s presence because he paused his writing and looked up. “Oh, hello there!” the man said, looking surprised but pleased. “I guess I was so involved with my writing that I didn’t hear you come in. I’m trying to write a book about my museum, you see. Welcome to the Columbus Phallological Museum, where we have the largest collection of phalluses in the entire world!” 

“Uh, thank you?” 10K said, not sure what else to say. 

The man stood from behind the desk and walked around it toward 10K. 10K tightened his grip on his rifle, not sure what to expect. 

“I’m Hans Gruber, the owner of this museum. I’m always excited to have visitors come to my museum. Are you from around here or just passing through?” Hans asked, clearly unfazed. 

“Just passing through,” 10K said. “We’re actually headed to California.” 

“We? Then you’re here with your family!” Hans said happily. 

“More like traveling companions.” 

“Excellent!” he said, clasping his hands and looking over 10K’s shoulder. “I don’t get many visitors since the apocalypse. It’s sad really as people used to come from all over the world to visit my museum.” He looked melancholy for a moment, as if he was remembering those happier days, but then he looked up and smiled and said, “Would you like me to give you and your group a tour, answer any questions?” 

“Uh…” 10K was at a loss what to say since they had entered the museum to look for food and gas, not to enjoy the exhibits. He let out a relieved breath when he heard Addy and Warren’s voices. “Those are my friends,” he said, exiting the room. “Guys,” he said, grabbing the group’s attention. “This is Hans Gruber. He owns this museum,” he said meaningfully. 

“Oh. Well hello,” Warren said, approaching him cautiously with her hand out, which Hans shook warmly. “We didn’t realize anyone was here. I hope we’re not intruding.” 

“Oh, not at all! The museum is open from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on weekdays, and from 10:00 to 9:00 on Saturdays. I’m closed on Sunday though. I still keep to the same hours I had before the apocalypse, so you are welcome to wander around, ask questions. We also have a gift shop if you’d like to purchase a bumper sticker or keychain!” he said happily. 

“Oh. Well, thank you,” Warren said, trying to figure out if the man was in his right mind or not. 

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Cassandra said, walking up next to Warren, “how in the world did you get the idea to start a museum showcasing penises?” 

“An excellent question!” Hans said enthusiastically. 

Just then Charlie and Mack showed up, apparently having heard the voices. Charlie had found a box of candy bars in the gift shop. 

“Hello, come join us!” Hans said happily. “I see you found the museum’s chocolate bars! They’re made out of milk chocolate in the shape of a penis with nuts at one end. Those are a big hit at bachelorette parties,” he said, winking at the women. “But I was going to tell you how I got started in this,” he said to Cassandra. “In 1984, when I was 33 years old, I was a history teacher in a farming town south of here. When I got married to my lovely wife, one of the other teachers gave me a dried bull’s penis as a joke at my bachelor party. I kept it, and soon thereafter other teachers began bringing me penises from various farm animals. I kept them all and displayed them in my barn, and somehow word got out and people from outside the city were mailing me all kinds of penises from animals and sea creatures they’d hunted or caught. I was fascinated by the differences, and soon thereafter opened my little barn exhibit to anyone who wanted to see it. Word continued to spread, and then I started getting penises shipped to me from all over the world from other phallological enthusiasts, so much so that I quit my teaching job and opened this museum, and it has continued to grow ever since,” he finished. “That is, until the apocalypse happened,” he said sadly. “Business has been unfortunately slow to nonexistent ever since.” 

“Your wife, is she around?” Addy asked. 

“No,” he sighed. “She died shortly after the apocalypse. I miss her. It gets terribly lonely here sometimes, despite my work.” 

“Well, this is certainly is an impressive museum,” Warren said, but unfortunately I’m afraid we need to move on.” 

“Oh,” the curator said, looking disappointed. “Are you sure you saw it all? Did you see the club shaped turtle phalluses? The argonaut octopus' detachable worm? That penis actually detaches and swims to the female octopus to fertilize her eggs. That way the smaller male doesn’t have to get too close to the larger female octopus and risk getting killed.” 

“We really have to leave,” she said politely but firmly, and everyone turned to head back to the entrance two rooms away. 

“That candy is two dollars a bar, by the way,” the curator said to Charlie. 

“Oh, uh…” Charlie looked at the gang expectantly, but no one had any cash. Who even used cash anymore? 

Charlie was saved by the sound of the front door opening and male voices. “I meant to lock the door behind us,” he said, frowning. 

“Our doors are always open to the curious and seekers of knowledge,” Hans said, clearly happy at having more visitors. 

“When was the last time you had visitors here?” Murphy asked. 

“Oh, let’s see … Probably three months ago. But those people just came here to steal from me, so I had to ask them to leave,” he said disapprovingly, heading for the front door and his new visitors. 

The gang exchanged looks. “We need to leave. Now!” Warren said. 

As they headed for the entry room they heard raised voices. It sounded like Hans was arguing with whoever had entered the museum. Looking through the arched doorway ahead they spotted what looked to be five men, and Hans was clearly demanding that they leave the museum. The group’s expressions turned to horror as one of the men raised a handgun and shot Hans point blank in the head. 

“Move! Move!” Charlie said softly, urging them to go back the way they had come. 

The group spread out, hiding behind arched doorways and large exhibits with their weapons out. 10K was annoyed that Murphy had followed him into the Australia exhibit room on the far right and was now standing behind him practically glued to his backside. “Just stay against the wall,” he snapped, as he looked through his scope waiting to see what these men wanted. He didn’t have to wait long. 

“Hey, little piggies, come out, come out wherever you are!” one of the men shouted out. 

“They can’t be vampires or they wouldn’t have shot Hans, so what do you suppose they want?” Roberta asked Charlie. They had ducked into the Animals of South America exhibit, and both of them had guns at the ready. Cassandra was crouched behind them with a knife, but that wouldn’t prove to be much good if a gunfight erupted. 

“Well, let’s ask them,” Charlie said. “What do you want?” he called out. “If it’s food, we don’t have any,” he added. 

“Oh, we know how to get food,” one of them called back. “If we trade you folks to the vampires, they’ll give us food. They have lots of food lying around, seeing as how they can’t eat regular food no more.” 

“You’re a traitor to your own kind!” they heard Addy yell out from somewhere in the middle of the museum. 

“We’re survivalists,” another voice said. “We trade you folks, we get food and we don’t starve.” 

“This is a vampire-eat-human world we live in nowadays, sweetheart,” another voice called out. 

“Oh, frack you!” Addy yelled back. 

The men were trying to move closer, but then a shot rang out, and Charlie thought it sounded like 10K’s rifle. Charlie saw the large tube holding the whale penis explode, and the penis slid across the floor looking like a small canoe. 

“That was a warning shot,” Warren shouted out. “We’re survivalists too, and if you fools come any closer, you won’t be surviving for much longer.” 

“We assume that you want us alive,” Charlie added, “but we have absolutely no qualms about killing you. This doesn’t have to get ugly. Just turn around and leave and let us go.” 

“No can do,” the first voice said. “Strangers don’t stop around these parts very often, so when they do we have to get it while the gettin’s good.” 

“So be it,” Charlie said softly. 

Just then, the group of good ‘ol boys opened fire. 

“They’re actually shooting at us,” Warren said in surprise. “What good are we to them if we’re dead?” 

Charlie saw a bullet lodged in the wall behind them and pulled it out. “They’re using rubber bullets,” he said. “They’ll hurt like the dickens and totally incapacitate us but not kill us,” he said grimly. 

A stray bullet hit a shelf of small glass jars over their heads, and the jars exploded. Cassandra, who was kneeling down below the shelf, cried out, “Damn, this shit burns!” 

“Here,” Warren said, handing her her bandana to wipe the liquid off her skin. “It’s formaldehyde, the same stuff they use to embalm corpses, and it’s slightly caustic, meaning it will burn the skin.” 

“Maybe we can use that to our advantage,” Charlie said, as the gunfire was coming closer. It was hard to see the shooters behind the distortion of all the large glass containers, but maybe shooting the containers and splashing the men with the formaldehyde would do the trick. “Shoot the glass containers!” he shouted out to his team. 

The ones with guns all opened fire, and glass exploded everywhere, and they heard the cries of the men as they got splashed with the fluid. The men seemed to retreat back toward the front door and Charlie was hopeful that they were going to leave. 

10K saw the men retreating as well, but figured they weren’t going to give up that easy and were just regrouping, so during the silence he grabbed Murphy and pushed him through the Australia room to Hans’ office. He was hoping that maybe Hans had a back door in his office. There was a door in his office, but when he opened it, it seemed to lead down into a basement. It smelled kind of funky down there, so it was probably his specimen prep room. He shut the door and pulled Murphy back to where they were standing originally to see if the men had left. Just as he got there though he saw a grenade skipping across the floor toward where they all were. “Grenade!” he yelled, pushing Murphy to the floor and throwing himself on top of him to shield him. He felt Murphy immediately wrap his arms around him and bury his face in his neck and inhale deeply, much to his annoyance and embarrassment as he realized how intimate their current position was. The grenade went off, but it wasn’t a regular grenade, it was a tear gas grenade. 

“Uh, can you let go of me now?” 10K asked irritably, struggling to get up as Murphy seemed to be attached to him like Velcro. 10K peeled himself away from Murphy and stood up, and as soon as he saw the gas he put on his googles and pulled his bandana up over his mouth and nose. This could definitely incapacitate his group. He already heard them coughing. “Go back to that door and down the stairs into the basement,” he ordered Murphy, shoving him toward Hans’ office again. He prayed there would be an exit or a window down there. 

“Come this way! This way! Follow the sound of my voice,” he shouted, running out and grabbing Addy, Mac and Doc first and leading them through to Hans office and sending them down into the basement. Then he went back for Charlie, Warren and Cassandra. Warren almost shot him, thinking he was one of them, but he got them through to Hans’ office and down into the basement. 

The gang was all coughing, eyes tearing from the gas. It took them several minutes before they were able to breath normally again. During that time 10K felt around until he found a light switch, and turned it on. The basement was huge, an open space that ran almost the length of the museum. They were currently in Hans’ prep area, and they saw more specimens in jars sitting on countertops next to a large sink. Nobody was coming through the door yet, so either the men were waiting for the smoke to clear a bit, or they had gas masks in their car that they had gone to collect. 

They went further back hoping to find a door or window before the men came for them, but they froze as they came to an area of the basement containing large pens of live animals. There were calves and young pigs and lambs … and all of them had fang marks. 

“Oh, my god,” Addy said. “Hans is a vampire.” 

“Well he didn’t attack us, so apparently he’s a vampire who has found an alternative way of living other than attacking people,” Doc said. “He did say he used to live in a farming town, so he knows how to care for animals. These animals look healthy despite the fang marks.” 

“Hold on a second,” Warren said. “If he’s a vampire and they shot him with a rubber bullet, not a real bullet…” 

Just then they heard terrified screams and gunfire from up above. 

“I’d say Hans just woke up,” Charlie said. “We need to get out of here!” 

They did find a back door, but there was a heavy padlock on it. Doc was trying to bust the padlock with his hammer, but it was unfortunately well made and the hammer didn’t phase it. It had gone eerily quiet upstairs. They heard the basement door above them open, and the sound of footsteps coming down. 

“This is it!” Charlie said, as the group all bunched together, holding their weapons in front of them, ready for anything. 

Hans walked through his lab and past the animal pens toward them. He had a bit of blood on his mouth and shirt, and his hair was in disarray, but otherwise he looked calm. “No need for that,” he said. “I’m not going to hurt you.” 

The gang lowered their weapons somewhat but stayed leery. 

“When the apocalypse happened, I turned vampire and my wife didn’t. I was in the beginning stages of Parkinson’s Disease. When I got the virus and it cured me, I was suddenly crazed with hunger. I mean, just out of my mind with it. I killed my sweet wife. I’ve never forgiven myself for it, and since that day I’ve never touched human blood. That is, not until today. I’ve sustained on animal blood, as you can see. It doesn’t really hurt them, and I take good care of them. But those men up there, they shot me, and then they destroyed my beautiful museum. I must get to work immediately and see if I can salvage some of my specimens, so I’m afraid I must ask you all to leave.” 

The gang let out a sigh of relief, starting toward the door, but then Hans said, “Before you leave, you do owe me something for viewing my museum and for the chocolates you took,” he said. 

“Well, we don’t have any cash, and I don’t think you need any more blood right now, brother,” Doc said. 

“That is true. But you do have something that interests me, something that falls within my area of expertise that I have never seen before.” 

They all looked at each other, confused. What did they have that someone who studied phalluses for a living would be interested in? 

“The occurrence of a male omega is exceedingly rare. It takes a combination of genes that occurs so seldom that only one omega in 50,000 is male, and I have never even met one before, much less had the privilege of viewing the phallus of one in the flesh,” he said, looking eagerly at 10K. 

“Hell, yes,” Murphy said. “Let’s all take a look at this rare thing. For educational purposes,” he clarified when they all looked at him. 

10K had a look of shock on his face when he saw everyone looking at him. “Uh-uh, no way,” he said, shaking his head. 

“We’re talking looking only, no touching?” Warren asked, and 10K gave her a look of total disbelief. 

“I just want to see it,” Hans said. “Oh, and take a picture for my records. I may want to include it in the book I’m writing. As I said, male omegas are exceedingly rare. You’re so lucky to have one,” he gushed. 

“Can we have a moment?” Warren said, and Hans stepped away to give them some privacy. “He just wants a quick look,” Warren said gently to 10K. “His place did get trashed, and it seems like this would make him happy. He also could have killed us like he did the others, but he didn’t.” 

As everyone kept staring at him, 10K was fuming, but he finally said, “Fine! But everybody else leaves!” 

“Of course,” Warren said, already heading for the staircase. 

“Can’t I stay?” Murphy asked Charlie. 

“Go!” Charlie said, pushing him toward the stairway. 

The gang waited upstairs about five minutes before a red-faced 10K came up the stairs with Hans right behind him. 

“Wonderful! Just wonderful!” Hans was saying. “So unexpectedly small and dainty!” 

10K practically had smoke coming out of his ears, his face was so red. “I’m going to wait outside,” he said through gritted teeth. 

“So, everything is good?” Warren asked. 

Hans looked around his museum and sighed. “It’s going to take a while to get the museum back in order, but I have nothing but time these days. Still, it was nice having company, even for a short time, and seeing a rare specimen I have never seen before. That is always exciting,” he said. 

“Well, we wish you all the best, but we need to be on our way,” Warren said. 

“I’ll walk you to the door,” he said. 

“Any chance I could get a look at that picture?” Murphy asked Hans softly, but Addy overheard him. 

“Oh, no you don’t,” she said, pushing him through the front door. 

Hans stood at the door and waved at them. “Good-bye, my friends,” he shouted. “Stop by again any time!” 

10K was in the very back of the station wagon with Doc and Cassandra. He was feeling humiliated, and he was also feeling resentful that he had had to embarrass himself when no one else had to. It seemed like he was constantly being embarrassed with these people. Maybe it had been a mistake joining them. 

“I know that was hard for you, 10K,” Warren said from the front seat, “but to someone like Hans, looking at your, uh, specimen was no different than a baseball card collector looking at a rare baseball card. It’s his field of expertise and he was just so excited, and we did have a hand in wrecking his place. If we even suspected that it was going to be anything other than academic curiosity, we wouldn’t have allowed it.” 

“Can we just not talk about it,” 10K said tersely, still fuming. 

“I have something that will cheer you up,” Charlie said from behind the wheel. “Here, pass these around to everyone,” he said, handing the box to Roberta. 

Charlie had retrieved the box of candy bars while they were waiting for 10K to come up, and Warren passed them out to everyone. 

Murphy unwrapped his bar and then turned in his seat and looked at 10K and gave his penis-shaped candy a long lick and said, “These are good for practicing too. Mind you, they’re kind of small, comparatively speaking.” 

“Just ignore him,” Cassandra said, unwrapping her bar and turning to Murphy and smiling, right before she bit off half the penis. 

Murphy shuttered and turned back around, and 10K couldn’t help but smile. 

“Uh, Cassandra?” 10K said. 

“Yeah?” she said, looking at him questioningly. 

“Uh, did you know you have a penis in your hair?” 

She looked at him as if expecting a punchline, but when he looked at a spot above her right ear she put her candy bar down and reached up tentatively, and sure enough, there was something small and slimy there. 

“Eww! Get it out!,” she said, shaking her head and trying to dislodge it, acting like she had a live spider in her hair instead of a dead penis, but the thing seemed to be clinging to her curls. 

“It must be one of those cat penises with the 100 barbs,” 10K said calmly. “That’s why you can’t get it out of your hair.” 

By now everyone was watching Cassandra as she struggled to free the small penis from her hair. She finally managed to get it out and then threw it wildly in the general direction of the open window next to Murphy, but unfortunately her aim was off and the thing bounced off the door frame like a rubber ball and flew over Murphy and went right down Addy’s top. 

“AIEEEEE!” Addy screamed. “Cassandra! That penis went down my shirt!” she screeched, looking down her cleavage for it. 

10K heard a loud smack, and then, “Back off, buster, nobody’s hand goes down there but mine.” 

“I was just going to help you find it,” Murphy said, and 10K looked at Cassandra, and they both burst out laughing. Soon everyone in the car was laughing, even Addy, as she had managed to find the penis stuck in her cleavage and toss it out the window. 

But it had broken the tension that 10K had been feeling to see someone else embarrassed and flustered for a change instead of him. 

Murphy was chuckling as well. He had to admit that there was never a dull moment with these people. He was idly scratching the back of his hand, which was itchy and seemed to be dry and peeling, and that seemed strange as he hadn’t gotten sunburned. He peeled a long strip of dead skin off the back of his hand and looked at the flesh underneath. It was smooth, moist and pale, and when he touched it, it was as soft as a baby’s bottom. He tucked the dead skin into his shirt pocket and stroked the strip of youthful dewy new skin with wonder. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so you know, there is in fact a penis museum, but it’s most definitely not in Columbus, Ohio. It’s not even in the U.S. It’s called the Icelandic Phallological Museum, and there’s all kinds of information about it on the web if you’re curious about it and want to check it out! No, I've never been there, I just came across it by accident when I was surfing the web and I couldn't resist putting it in my story! 
> 
> In the next chapter the group meets a couple of friendly vampires who offer them a deal they can’t refuse. See you next week!


	9. Chapter 9

“Where are we?” Addy asked, yawning and stretching in the back seat of the car, having been woken by the sudden silence of the engine shutting off. 

“We just crossed the border into Indiana and we’ve stopped in a small town called Williamsport,” Warren said, getting out of the car. “As usual we’re out of everything. We need to look for food, gas, water—whatever we can find.” 

“This town’s really cute,” Addy said, getting out of the car and looking around. 

“Define cute,” Murphy said as he got out as well, not looking impressed. 

“Cute or not, let’s just hope it hasn’t been cleaned out,” Warren said. “Let’s split up and see what we can find. Mack and Addy, you head south; Doc, 10K and Cassandra, you head north; and Charlie and I will take Murphy and head east.” 

“Why do I have to go with you?” Murphy complained. 

“We’ll meet back here in one hour,” she said, ignoring Murphy. “Let’s head out.” 

“Hello,” came a surprisingly chipper voice, making them all jump in surprise. When they turned around, two little girls wearing Girl Scout uniforms, complete with sashes covered in assorted badges, were standing in front of them. The older of the two looked to be about 11 or 12 and was holding the hand of a smaller girl who looked to be around 8 and who was shyly looking at the ground. 

“Hello,” Addy said back, looking around for the kids’ parents. “You two shouldn’t be out wandering around by yourselves. It’s dangerous out here. Are your parents nearby?” 

“Our parents are dead. My dad turned into a vampire and accidentally killed my mom, then shot himself out of guilt,” the older of the two said calmly, her eyes reflecting a maturity well beyond her tender years. “My name’s Jessica, and this here’s my sister, Sarah. We’re both vampires, but don’t worry, we’re not feral.” 

The group all looked startled at that announcement, and the men in the group actually took a step back as if thinking the two girls were about to launch themselves at their throats. 

“The thing is,” Jessica continued, “we heard you say you’re going to search for food. This town’s been picked clean several times over, but it just so happens we know where you can get some food.” 

“You do? And where is that exactly?” Warren asked with a touch of suspicion. Jessica was like an adult trapped in a child’s body, and it was a bit unnerving. 

“We have some food stashed away. Well, it’s mostly cookies, but we got some other stuff too. Me and Sarah were doing our annual cookie drive for the Girl Scouts and took all these orders and got our cookies in, but then never got a chance to deliver them to the people who bought them because the ‘pocalypse happened. So since you’re hungry and we’re hungry, we’d like to make a trade. If you feed us, we’ll feed you.” 

“So, just to be clear,” Charlie said, “you and your sister want to bite two of our people in exchange for cookies?” 

Jessica nodded solemnly. “Like I said, we got some other stuff too. We went around town early on and gathered stuff for our mom before dad turned feral and killed her. So we’re ready to deal.” 

“You got any of those Thin Mints?” Murphy cut in. 

“Yes, we got Thin Mints; Samoas, which have caramel and coconut; Trefoils, which are like butter cookies; and Savannah Smiles, which are lemony. We’re all out of the peanut butter ones though.” 

“Darn, those are my favorites,” Mack said under his breath. 

“So, I take it you’ve done this before,” Warren said. “Traded people food for blood.”

“Yeah. The Girl Scouts taught us a lot of things, including how to barter for stuff you want or need. So every time someone new comes through town we offer a trade. We avoid people who look mean though. Or who look like perverts. But you guys look nice enough. Except for him,” she said, pointing at Murphy. 

Little Sarah looked up briefly with her solemn blue eyes and nodded in agreement with her sister before returning her gaze to the ground. 

“Out of the mouth of babes,” Addy said, exchanging a look with Warren and suppressing a smile. 

“Could we have a minute to talk it over amongst ourselves?” Warren asked.

“Of course,” Jessica said. “Me and Sarah will just wait right over here.” 

The group moved several feet away, and Warren turned to Charlie and said, “Well, what do you think?” 

“Do you really think they have food like they’re saying?” he asked. 

“I think little Jessica figured out early how to survive the apocalypse and stockpiled food. That is one smart kid.” 

“Well, if we can come to an arrangement and everyone’s in agreement, I don’t see why not. I mean, they’re little. How much can they eat?” Charlie said, looking over at the two girls who were waiting patiently. 

“I don’t mind contributing a pint if it’ll get me some cookies,” Doc volunteered. 

“Yeah, that goes for me too,” Addy said. “They’re all alone in the world just trying their best to survive. And Jessica’s really trying hard to take care of her little sister. I say we go for it.” 

There were nods all around, although some were reluctant. 10K was glad that Doc and Addy had volunteered, because he did not want another vampire biting him, even a cute little pint-sized one with big doe eyes. 

“So, who’s going to make the deal?” Addy asked, looking between Warren and Charlie. 

“Not me,” Charlie said quickly with his hands up. When the group looked at him, the leader said, “Jessica will look at me with those big baby blues and I’ll be putty in her hands. I say we let Warren do it. She won’t be taken in by those pixie-like faces.” 

“Gee, thanks a lot,” Warren said. “Alright, let’s do this.” Walking back toward the girls, they were both smiling. Clearly they had overhead their conversation. “So,” Warren started out, looking down at Jessica with her arms crossed over her chest, trying to intimidate her, “what are you offering us in exchange for feeding you both?” 

But clearly Jessica had done this numerous times before and was not about to be intimidated. Looking Warren back right in the eyes she said, “Two boxes of cookies for two blood donors.” 

“Not good enough. What else you got? You got any soup?” 

“I think we have a couple cans of tomato soup left,” Jessica said. 

“What about peanut butter? You got any peanut butter?” 

“I think so.” 

“Yes!” Mack said. When all eyes turned to him, he said, “What? I happen to like peanut butter.” 

“Okay, counter offer,” Warren said, “Two cans of soup, a jar of peanut butter, and five boxes of cookies, our choice of flavors.”

“Two cans of soup, a jar of peanut butter, TWO boxes of cookies, and some slightly crushed crackers.” 

_Damn, this kid is good,_ Roberta thought. “Okay, final offer; two cans of soup, a jar of peanut butter, THREE boxes of cookies, and the crushed crackers.” 

Jessica seemed to mull it over for a few seconds. “Deal,” she finally said. “But we get to pick who we want to feed off of. No offense,” she said, looking at Doc, “but biting you would feel like biting my grandpa, and it just wouldn’t feel right.” 

“I guess I can’t argue with that,” Doc said, scratching his beard. 

“Okay, deal,” Warren said. “But wrist biting only, no neck biting,” she said, happy with the fact they would have real food tonight. Who are your choices?” 

“I want him,” Jessica said immediately, pointing at 10K and blushing slightly. 

10K closed his eyes and groaned slightly. Of course she had to pick him. 

“Who do you want?” Jessica asked her sister gently. 

Sarah looked up timidly and pointed at Addy. 

“All right,” Warren said, relieved that she wasn’t chosen. “You go get the payment, and then you two cuties can have your lunch.” 

Murphy cleared his throat loudly, looking at Warren. 

“Oh, make sure one box of the cookies is Thin Mints,” she said, glancing at Murphy, who nodded happily. 

Pulling Sarah behind her, Jessica raced off excitedly. 

“That’s a pretty good deal,” Charlie said admiringly to Warren after the girls left. “You got us soup, peanut butter and crackers for dinner, and cookies for desert. We’ll have a real feast tonight.” 

“I should have asked Jessica if she was stockpiling gas as well. I wouldn’t put it past her,” Warren said. 

Less than 15 minutes later the girls ran back with their arms laden with the agreed upon payment. Murphy immediately snatched the Thin Mints from Jessica’s arms and ripped open the box, stuffing three cookies in his mouth at once. 

“Oh god, that’s so good,” he moaned with his mouth full. 

“Well save some for the rest of us,” Warren said chidingly, snatching the box from him and passing it around so they could all have a cookie. Shortly they were all in chocolate/sugar heaven. 

Jessica was bouncing on the balls of her feet, equally eager to sample her payment. Sighing, 10K opened the back of the station wagon and sat down, uncovering his wrist and offering it to the girl. “Just stay out of my head, okay?” 

“I’ll try, but I don’t really know how to control it. Nobody ever taught me how.” 

10K sighed again. “Okay, go ahead.”

Murphy had discretely angled himself so he could watch Jessica feed on 10K. He felt himself growing inexplicably excited at the thought of her fangs puncturing his pale flesh and feasting on his blood. He licked his lips in anticipation as he saw her lowering her mouth to his wrist. He could swear he could hear 10K’s heart beating faster, hear the blood rushing through his veins. He watched raptly as the child wasted no time sinking her fangs into 10K’s wrist, and he could swear the air was suddenly saturated with the sweet copper tang of omega blood in the air. 

10K hissed at the sharp pain as Jessica sank her fangs into his wrist, but it wasn’t too bad. Her teeth were smaller than that man who had first bit him on the neck. He took a deep breath and tried to relax, thinking about eating hot soup and peanut butter and cracker sandwiches later on tonight. Then he felt the familiar ruffling, and his thoughts were suddenly filled with a kind of joy, and he knew that Jessica had inadvertently slipped into his head. But it wasn’t like the pleasured and erotic thoughts of the man who had bit him. This had a giddy, child-like quality that was full of laughter and rainbow colors. It was a wonderful feeling and he threw his head back and smiled despite himself. 

Murphy watched 10K throw his head back and smile, and his eyes were mesmerized by that beautiful column of pale omega throat and he suppressed a groan. He could see the carotid artery in the kid’s throat pulsing as life sustaining blood ran through it, and he could swear he felt the blood pulsing through his cock in time to it. His mouth was suddenly watering, and he jerked in surprise as something sharp stabbed into his bottom lip. He ran his tongue over the puncture, which was bleeding slightly, and then his tongue found a sharp canine. A very sharp canine. A long and pointed canine, as in a vampire canine. He slapped his hand over his mouth and turned around and rushed off, hoping no one noticed. He wasn’t sure what was happening, but he needed to get himself under control because both his teeth and his cock were urging him to push Jessica away and jump that boy. 

“Murphy, where are you going?” Roberta shouted after him. 

“Have to pee,” he muttered through his hand, not turning around. 

“Well don’t go too far,” she said, watching him run off. 

Jessica pulled her teeth free without being told and put a hand on her stomach looking totally satiated. There was a pink flush to her cheeks now. 

“Thank you,” she said, all politeness. “That was really good. You taste better than most people,” she added solemnly. 

10K just blushed and nodded, pulling down his sleeve and covering his wrist, feeling self-conscious. 

Jessica walked over to her sister and waited until she had finished with her feeding. 

“Say thank you to the nice lady,” Jessica said to Sarah after the little girl had removed her fangs. 

“Thank you,” Sarah said in her tiny voice. 

“You’re welcome, sweetheart,” Addy said, brushing Sarah’s long blond hair over her shoulder. “You two be careful out there,” she said. 

“We will,” Jessica said with confidence. “Thank you again. I hope you enjoy the cookies and stuff.” Then she grabbed her sister’s hand and they headed off happily. 

“If all vampires were like those two, we could all get alone,” Doc said, popping a Samoa in his mouth. 

“Well, let’s put in another hundred miles; then we’ll stop for the evening and have our soup and peanut butter—”

Charlie was cut off by the sound of the girls screaming, and then two gun shots. They looked in the direction the girls had taken off and were horrified to see them lying on the ground, two men standing over them holding revolvers. They ran toward the girls, but were stopped in their tracks when one of the men pointed his revolver at them. 

“You folks just stop right there,” he said. He was in his late 30’s with greasy brown hair reaching his shoulders, and a belly that said he’d probably been chugging beer since he was a teen. 

“You killed them?” Addy said in shock, seeing the bullet holes in their foreheads. “Why would you kill two little girls?” she asked, barely holding back her fury. The entire gang was outraged. Even Murphy looked like he wanted to kill them. 

“What I did was kill two fangers, thereby helping the human race survive. You folks must be vampire lovers. I saw you feeding them. That’s how I knew they was vamps.” 

“They offered us food in exchange for blood,” Addy said, her hands trembling with rage. “They weren’t feral and they weren’t hurting anybody. They were just children trying to survive, for god’s sake! Why would you do this?” 

“Sure, they’re all cute and meek and mild now, trading folks for food,” greasy hair said. “But what happens when their food runs out and they got nothing more to trade? Then they have to go hunting and take what they need. Statistics say there are currently twenty vampers for every human, so we are seriously outnumbered. Eventually these two sweet little gals would have run out of food to trade and turned feral, and I just saved the lives of the humans they would have eventually gone after and killed.” 

The second man, who hadn’t spoken a word, knelt down and pulled a pair of pliers out of his belt and started pulling out one of little Sarah’s fangs. 

“What the hell are you doing, man!” Doc said outraged, and 10K and Cassandra held him back. “Are you seriously taking a souvenir?” 

The man still pointing a gun at them said, “No. There’s a lady next town over pays good money for vampire fangs. She makes jewelry out of ‘em. They’re a big seller. This here is one of her pieces,” he said, holding up a tooth necklace they hadn’t seen. “Show ‘em yours, Dave.” Dave stopped what he was doing and pushed back his stringy black hair to show an earring with a fang dangling from a length of silver chain. 

“Let’s go,” Charlie said with forced calm,” ushering them away. “There’s nothing we can do for the girls, and if we stay here any longer I might do something reckless.” 

As they were walking away they heard, “That’s right, keep on walking. Fucking leech lovers.” 

They all froze, bristling at the taunt. Charlie exchanged a glance with Roberta. “They have guns,” she said. 

“Yes they do. Let’s go,” he said, marching toward the station wagon. “I’m driving.” 

They all piled into the station wagon, anger seething off every one of them. 

“Buckle up,” Charlie said, “and everyone stay low.” 

Warren saw a determined gleam in his eyes and immediately clicked her seatbelt into place, sliding down in her seat. 

Charlie started the engine and drove the car forward several yards, but then turned the wheel sharply and aimed it right at the two men. “They have big guns, but we have a big car,” he said, flooring the gas. 

The two men were so focused on getting the fangs from the two little girls that they didn’t realize what was happening until the car was practically on top of them. The expressions on both their faces was comical, right up to the point where Charlie ran them both over. Greasy hair managed to get off one shot before the station wagon bumped over their bodies. Fortunately he was kneeling down so the shot went up through the windshield between Charlie and Roberta and out through the roof. 

“I probably shouldn’t have done that,” Charlie said, “them being human and therefore part of an endangered species and all …” 

“Oh, trust me,” Addy said from the back, “you definitely should have done that. And I for one am glad you did. We don’t need people like that as part of the gene pool that’s repopulating the human race.” 

There were murmurs of agreement from the others in the back, and the tension that had followed them into the car seemed to dissipate, although there was still a cloud of sadness for the two little girls. 

“You’re just a big ‘ol softy,” Roberta said, putting a hand on Charlie’s arm and giving it an appreciative squeeze. 

“Who’s got the rest of the cookies?” Murphy said from the back. 

That night they found a campground and pulled in, made a fire, and had hot tomato soup, peanut butter on crackers, and the remainder of the cookies. It was a slightly somber occasion, remembering where the food came from, but it was so seldom that the group actually got enough to eat. With warm, full tummies, everyone was ready to turn in early. Well, just about everyone. Mack and Addy ran off into the woods, and Murphy felt a twinge of envy knowing that the two would be getting down and dirty with all the other forest creatures out in the woods tonight. 

Sighing, he looked around at the rest of the group. Charlie and Roberta were lying on sleeping bags side by side already fast asleep. They always seemed to stick together. He didn’t know if it was because they had known each other for a long time, or whether it was because they had the hots for each other. He suspected it was a little of both. Warren was one hot mama. Doc and Cassandra had pulled first guard duty and were currently walking around doing a perimeter check, keeping watch. Murphy ran his eyes up Cassandra’s shapely legs as she walked away. It was a hot night tonight and he realized he was definitely feeling horny. After all, he had been in prison almost a year, then in a coma for over six month, so it had been a long time since he’d had his pipes cleaned. Which led him to look at the kid next. He couldn’t get the image out of his head of waking up from his coma stark naked in the warm water with the kid’s hand wrapped around his cock. It had been the most erotic experience of his life. He was getting hard just thinking about it. 

He studied the kid. That boy could fall asleep at the drop of a hat, and he was currently sleeping off to the right of him using his backpack as a pillow. The kid was usually scowling, but in the glow of the campfire his face was soft in slumber, his defenses down. He had one arm above his head and the other hand resting lightly on his stomach. His black t-shirt was pulled tight across his chest, and Murphy could see the steady rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. His t-shirt had rucked up a little in the front and Murphy could see a couple inches of that pale creamy flesh on display. It was a sight to put ideas in a man's head and Murphy found himself wondering what it would be like to run his tongue along that line of flesh, maybe find his navel and swirl his tongue around in it as he unbuttoned the boy’s pants. He could imagine how soft and warm his skin would be if he pushed his hands up under that t-shirt. He would find his nipples with his thumbs and circle them until they were hard little pebbles, eager for him to lick and suckle.  
  
Murphy watched as 10K sighed and shifted in his sleep, and he let his eyes move further down his body. One of his legs was lying straight out on the ground, the other was half-bent at the knee and off to the side, stretching the material across his groin. Murphy swallowed thickly, fascinated by the sight. He had a sudden urge to crawl over there on his hands and knees and bury his face in the boy’s crotch. He could almost imagine how sweet the boy’s omega scent would be. He would nuzzle and run his tongue over the clothed area until the boy was writhing under his administrations and growing hard. He would urge his thighs further apart so he could rest fully between them. Then he would unzip him and pull down his pants, exposing that sweet little morsel and take it in his mouth and suck it like a delicacy. He bet the boy had never had a blowjob before. Bet he never had sex before. He would enjoy hearing all the little sounds he would make as he pleasured him with his mouth. 10K was moving restlessly now, and Murphy wondered what he was dreaming about. Anyway, he would continue sucking him, and then when the boy was close to finding his release, he would insert two of his fingers into him and fuck him with his fingers until he came screaming. 

10K cried out softly then, and Murphy could see that his breath was coming in excited little pants, his chest rising and falling quickly, his hands now curled into the cloth of the blanket he was lying on. More than that though, his legs were suddenly spread further apart as if someone had indeed crawled in-between them; and his body was slightly bowed in sleep as if he was actually experiencing all the things Murphy had just imagined. 

Murphy got up quickly and walked past Doc mumbling ‘have to pee’ as he moved swiftly to find a secluded spot in the woods to take care of an urgent problem that needed taking care of. He had the mother of all boners straining against the front of his pants. As he found a place out of sight of the camp, he fumbled urgently, trying to free himself and then sighed with relief as he started jerking off, his thoughts going immediately to 10K and the way that he had seemed to react to his fantasy. It was almost as if he had been inside 10K’s head feeding him the fantasy. He knew vampires could get inside people’s heads, but he was human. Wasn’t he? And didn’t vampires have to be touching a person to get inside their heads? Could this be yet another side effect of the vaccine? His skin was peeling and there was new youthful skin beneath it, and he now had these fangs which annoyingly came down whenever he was feeling horny—like now! He pumped faster, his release getting close, and a sudden image of using his new fangs to bite the kid while riding that sweet ass of his had him crying out at his release. Jesus, he hadn’t come that hard since he was a teenager. 

When his breathing was finally back to normal and his fangs had retracted, he tucked himself back in his pants and returned to camp. They were still a long way from California where he would hopefully get some answers from that bitch, Merch, but he was a bit worried about what other kinds of changes he was going to experience between now and then. 

When he got back to camp the first thing he noticed was that 10K was gone. “Hey, Doc, where’d the kid go?” 

“He woke up, mumbled that he had to pee, and went running off. Kind of like you did,” Doc added, scratching his beard. 

Murphy laid back down, feeling much more relaxed after his little visit to the woods. He looked over at the empty spot where 10K had been and couldn’t help but wonder if maybe 10K wasn’t currently out there doing the exact same thing he had just been doing, and he also couldn’t help but wonder if he was the cause of it. Had he actually been in the kid’s head feeding him his fantasy? 

Just then he saw 10K returning, and when the kid saw Murphy looking at him he froze and suddenly looked guilty as hell. He also looked flushed, which meant that the blood vessels just below the skin were filled with more blood, probably due to some type of exertion, and Murphy suppressed a groan and willed his fangs not to come back down. 

“Everything all right?” Murphy asked casually, schooling his features into some semblance of concern. 

“Fine,” 10K said, unfreezing and quickly going to his sleeping spot where he plopped down and then proceeded to immediately turn on his side facing away from Murphy. 

After staring at the kid’s back for several seconds, Murphy looked up at the sky and smiled. _Man, I would kill for a cigarette right now,_ he thought. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next chapter the gang goes to a gun show, runs into a couple of old friends, and has a close encounter with Godzilla. 


	10. Chapter 10

“Uh-oh,” Doc said from behind the wheel of the 2008 Dodge Ram pickup truck they were currently riding in. That was in response to a very audible clunking sound coming from underneath the hood. They had had to dump the station wagon due to the fact one of the men Charlie ran over had managed to put a bullet through the windshield and crack it before going to meet his maker. 

“You people sure do go through a lot of vehicles,” Murphy observed from the passenger seat. 

“Yeah, they just don’t make ‘em like they used to,” Doc said as he pulled the truck over, and when he came to a stop they could see white steam seeping out from underneath the hood. 

“I’ll take a look,” 10K volunteered, jumping out of the back seat. Cassandra had been asleep next to him and woke up, looking around with that groggy, confused look that people have when they first wake up and don’t know where they are. 

Roberta and Charlie had been given a break from driving and had been stretched out in the cargo bed trying to get some sleep. “Now what?” she said to Charlie, sitting up and seeing the steam. 

Addy and Mack had been following along behind them on a dirt bike they picked up in the last town they were in and pulled over behind them. 

As 10K raised the hood they were all engulfed in hot steam. 

“Probably the radiator,” Warren said, walking around to the front and fanning the steam to try and get a look under the hood. 

“I’ll take a look underneath,” 10K said, dropping to the ground and wiggling his slim body under the truck. 

As Warren checked under the hood, looking for issues, 10K called out, “Hey, I found a leak under here. Hand me the duct tape and a rag and I’ll patch it up.” 

Charlie got the roll of duct tape and a rag and passed them under the truck. The group always made sure they carried a roll of duct tape with them because if you have a roll of duct tape you can patch up just about anything. 

After a couple of minutes 10K reappeared from underneath the truck, wiping his hands on the rag. “I taped it up as best I could, but we're not going anywhere unless we get some water in there,” he said. 

“All right,” Charlie said, “you heard the man. Hand over your water bottles.” 

The meager contents of everyone’s water bottles was poured into the radiator, but then Warren noticed that Murphy was drinking out of his and put her hand out. 

“I get thirsty,” he complained, holding onto it possessively. 

“We all get thirsty. How thirsty do you think you’re gonna get if we end up stuck out here in the middle of nowhere?” she said. 

Looking around, there was nothing but empty farmland as far as the eye could see. 

“Fine,” he said sulkily, handing it over. She poured his last little bit into the radiator and closed the hood. 

“I’ll drive!” 10K volunteered, quickly jumping into the driver’s seat. 

“Do you think he even has a license?” Warren asked Charlie after her initial surprise. 

Charlie shrugged and said, “Does it really matter?” 

“I guess not,” she said as they both climbed into the back seat with Cassandra. 

“Okay, knock yourself out, kid,” Doc said, as he came around to the passenger side of the front and told Murphy to scoot over. 

10K pressed his foot down hard on the gas and the truck lurched forward. 

“Whoa! Whoa! Easy there, kid! Easy! Who taught you how to drive?” Doc asked. 

“Uhhh, no one,” he said, easing off the gas pedal. 

“Oh Lord,” Roberta said, exchanging another look with Charlie. 

“Jesus,” Murphy said, bracing his feet on the floor and one hand on 10K’s knee. When 10K gave him ‘a look’ he removed his hand and said, “Sorry, I thought that was my knee.” Cassandra was quickly putting on her seatbelt. 

“All right, first lesson: hands on the ten and the two,” Doc said. “And easy on the gas.” 

As 10K got the hang of driving, they passed a sign a couple miles down the road that read “No V’s.” 

“Well that's a good sign,” Doc said. 

Another sign appeared a half a mile further down that read “Gun Show Today.” 

“Getting interesting,” Doc said. “Liquor!” he said excitedly, reading the next sign. “Now we’re talking.” 

“Can we go to the gun show?” 10K asked eagerly. 

“What do you think, guys?” Doc asked Charlie and Roberta in the back. 

“Well, if they have liquor they must have water,” Warren said to Charlie, “which we are in desperate need of.” 

“Yeah, and maybe they’ll have a spare vehicle we can trade for,” Charlie said, “because I don’t think this one is going to last much longer.” 

“Gun show it is,” Doc said smiling, and 10K turned off where the next sign indicated. 

They bumped along a dusty dirt road heading toward a big building that looked like a warehouse sitting in the middle of nowhere. As they neared the structure, three burly men signaled for them to stop. Looking intimidating and standing on both sides of the truck looking them all over, one of them said, “Y'all armed?” 

“Of course we’re armed,” Cassandra said a bit sarcastically. “We’d be stupid not to be.” 

The big man smiled at her and said, “Well that’s good, darlin’, ‘cause we don't have time to babysit your sweet ass. Enjoy the show,” he said, waving them through. 

10K parked where all the other cars were parked, and Mack parked the bike right next to them. It looked like there was quite a turnout for this gun show. 

“Guns and liquor, what could possibly go wrong?” Murphy said, looking around the place as they all walked toward a table with two people sitting behind it. 

“Welcome to S&S Limited, the finest gun show in the west,” a woman in a cowboy hat droned off in a bored voice as they approached. Entry fee is seven.” 

“Seven what?” Doc asked. 

“Bullets. Oxy. Grams of whatever DIY super fun-time substance you got.”

“Well I think I got some crystal back in the truck. It's the good stuff too.” 

“Back off with the toilet bowl cleanser meth,” the man sitting next to woman suddenly said, pushing his hat back and revealing his face. “We only take that genuine vein splittin' take-you-right-out-of-this-beautiful-apocalypse-and-into-a-hell-hole meth.” 

“Well slap my ass and call me Sally if it ain't Sketchy McClain!” Doc said grinning, going around the table and pulling the man in for a guy hug. “How'd you get way out here?” 

“We traded our way up in the world. You see, vampires, they move in mysterious ways. We were on our last legs when we came upon this truckload of sweet weaponry under attack by ferals. We had to give mercy to those poor, retched souls, and the former owners were so grateful that they gave us this wonderful vehicle with enough gas to get us here to Bone Gap, Illinois,” he said. 

“Yeah, and the fact that the former owners were lying on the ground half drained of their blood had nothing to do with it,” Skeezy said laughing and coming up next to Sketchy. “Doc, it’s good to see you! I heard you were toast back at Camp Blue Sky!” 

“Nope, we were offsite when all that went down,” he said sadly. 

“Hey, Red!” Sketchy said, spotting Addy. “You still got your V-whacker I see!” 

“Yep,” she said, coming toward him swinging it affectionately. “I love this thing so much that if it was a man, I’d marry it,” she said smiling. 

“It definitely looks like it’s seen some action,” he said, noticing the coating of blood. 

“Oh yeah, it’s definitely seen a lot of action,” she said. 

“It’s probably getting more action than you have been lately,” Skeezy said jokingly to Sketchy. “Well don’t just stand there, get your bony ass in here, Doc. We need another sucker,” he added, heading toward the back of their truck. 

“Bite me, Skeezy,” Doc said. 

“I wouldn’t bite your bony ass even if I was a starving feral, man,” Skeezy shot back. 

Sketchy pulled a big gun out of the back of the truck and held it up. “Here we've got our latest innovations in vampire fighting technology. Small arms. Siege weapons. Brain-obliterators,” he said, showing off the various large caliber guns that Skeezy handed down to him. “You name it, we got it. Just sit back, relax, and forget about the apocalypse.” 

“Aren't you worried about the Vs?” Cassandra asked. 

“Look around. We're in the middle of nowhere Illinois. We're surrounded by hundreds of square miles of nothing but fallow farmland. There's no Vs here. Nothing for them to eat. They've all moved on to the big cities. So don't you worry your pretty head. But if one were to amble by, to say we're prepared is an understatement,” he said, indicating the truckload of guns. 

Warren was fine letting Doc do the talking, but she gave him a light nudge to remind him what they needed. 

“Oh yeah. Listen man,” Doc said, taking the hint, “we need a new vehicle. Ours is dying a slow death. You think you could help us out? You know, for old time's sake?”

“No can do, my friend. I'm an entrepreneur, not a philanthropist. But there might be a way you can help yourself. We’re hosting our very first annual live vampire shooting contest.” 

“What's the prize?” Doc asked. 

“Hey, Vernon. Show our friends here first prize.” 

Skeezy pulled out a rifle that was a good three feet long. 

“Wow!” 10K said, stepping forward and looking like a kid at Christmas. “Is that a real 50 caliber M82 Barret?” 

“Gen-u-ine,” Sketchy said. “Plus we'll even throw in a few hundred rounds of shells.” 

“Seems like a little overkill, a gun that big,” Doc said. 

“Anyone who thinks they need a gun that big is clearly compensating for something, if you know what I mean,” Murphy said, suddenly standing right behind 10K. 

“A lot of guys out there like their toys,” Sketchy continued. “And they might be willing to trade a vehicle for a sweet weapon like that.” 

“What are the contest rules?” 10K asked, taking a step away from Murphy to put some distance between them. 

“Simple. See that big warehouse over here,” he said. “We had some wranglers go to the city and capture 50 ferals, and they’re all in there. We’re going to send the contestants in there, and whoever kills the most, wins.” 

“Where do I sign up?” 10K said eagerly. 

“You think you got what it takes, little man?” 

“This kid could kill a V at 50 yards away with a rubber band and a paper clip,” Doc said proudly.

“All right, you can sign the kid up at that table over there,” Sketchy said, pointing to a table with a line of about eight people. And if the kid here does win and you want to trade it for a bad mama jama vehicle, you should try the Fu-Bar, home to the finest, and probably actually the only, corn whiskey and moonshine between here and the Mississippi. Talk to a guy named Wannamaker. Oh, and if any of you want a little side action, talk to Vernon. He’s taking all the bets. But do not bet against that guy,” Sketchy said, motioning over to a big man with bulging biceps and an intense stare who was currently sitting in the back of a pickup truck polishing his rifle and watching them. “Darren Cooper. Ex-Ranger. Sniper. Fifty confirmed kills in Afghanistan. Lethal as they come.” 

10K looked the man over, sizing him up. Darren Cooper may have fifty confirmed kills in Afghanistan, but 10K knew that he himself had 1,261 confirmed vampire kills here in the good old U S of A. He wasn’t overly worried about Darren Cooper, although the part of him that was omega couldn’t help but appreciate how hot the alpha was. 

“Alright, Doc, you get 10K signed up,” Warren said. “Charlie and I will go to the Fu-Bar and see if anyone is willing to part with a vehicle if he does win that gun. We’ll take Murphy with us.” Going over to Mack and Addy she whispered, “You two keep an eye on 10K.” 

“Why?” Mack asked, looking put out. 

“Well, how about because he’s a young omega and this place is full of testosterone-riddled alphas? How’s that for a good reason,” she said. 

“Gotcha,” Addy said, pulling Mack to the side. 

“Cassandra, you want to come with us or stay with Mack and Addy?” she asked the other omega, not wanting her wandering around on her own either. 

“I’ll come with you guys,” she said. 

Entering the bar, it was pretty much what you’d expect a bar out in the middle of nowhere to look like. It was rustic and dusty, but there were quite a few people in there drinking. 

Walking up to the bar Warren said, “We’re looking for a man named Wannamaker; heard he was most likely here.” 

“Who wants to know?” the barkeep said, looking them over. 

“Someone told us he might have a vehicle he’d be willing to trade,” Charlie said. 

“Yeah, Wannamaker's got cars.” 

“Well, do you know where he is?” Warren asked. 

The barkeep pointed down at a man who appeared to be passed out under a table. 

“Great. That’s just great,” Charlie said disgustedly, walking over to the table. 

Squatting down next to the table Warren said, “Hello. Hey, you under the table, wake up,” punctuated by a couple of pokes in his leg. 

“It’s no use, he's not gonna wake up,” a man at a nearby table said. By the looks of his eyes he was close to passing out himself. “Once Wannamaker's down, he's down. Check back in forty-eight hours.” 

“Forty-eight hours?” Cassandra said. “It’s gonna take him two days to sleep it off?” 

“Well, what about you?” Charlie said. “You look like a car man.” 

“I don't drive cars. I drive machines,” the man said lazily. 

“Well, you have any _machines_ you'd be willing to let go of?” Warren asked. 

“Depends. What you got to trade?” he asked, giving Cassandra a slow perusal. 

She flipped him the bird. She was so done with people treating her like a whore. 

“Don't worry, darlin',” he drawled, looking a bit angry, “you're not worth it. Ain't nothing as sweet as the Forman-mobile.” 

“Well what about that 50 caliber first prize?” Charlie asked. 

“Ha! Even if you do win, and that's a big if, the Forman-mobile is not for sale. Bio-diesel. Solar-powered. Quiet as they come. Kitchen. Bathroom. Fully regenerative internal plumbing system complete with marine grade PEX fittings. Built in, we got an NSV machine gun, flame thrower, cattle gun, grenade launcher, doom whistle, plus the usual wheel spikes, all that. Look at me teasin' ya. Ain't no way you're getting your hands on my baby.” 

“Sounds like bullshit anyway,” Cassandra said, turning her back on him and walking away. 

“Okay,” Warren said to Charlie, “he’s obviously drunk. Let’s ask the barkeep where we can at least get some water,” she said, following Cassandra to the bar. But Murphy, who had been standing back listening quietly, was still watching Forman. 

“I gotta drain the lizard king,” Forman said, getting up unsteadily and weaving his way out the front door. 

Murphy glanced over at Warren, Garnett and Cassandra. They were talking with the barkeep and weren’t paying any attention to him, so he slipped out the front door and followed Forman. Peaking around the corner of the bar, he would see Forman taking a leak on the side of the building. When he was done he zipped up, but then stumbled backwards and fell, looking to be passed out. 

“Forman! Hey, Forman! Forman, you okay?” Murphy said, sneaking toward the man while looking around and making sure no one else was nearby. “Forman!” he said again, nudging him with the tip of his shoe. When there was no response, he bent down and started checking his pockets for the keys to that vehicle he was bragging about. If it was even half as good as he described, maybe they could travel in comfort and style the rest of the way to California. Plus, 10K wouldn’t have to risk his cute little neck— _literally_ —by going into a warehouse full of hungry, crazed ferals. 

He found the keys in Forman’s pants pocket and got up, turning toward the parking lot and scanning the cars. He needed to find out which vehicle it was; then he could gather the others and they could just get the hell out of here. But as he took a step toward the parking lot, Forman suddenly grabbed his ankle, and Murphy ended up face down on the ground. He rolled over and took an immediate punch to the side of his face as Forman sat on him, pinning him down. 

“Where are my keys you fucking thief!” Forman yelled, punching him again. Murphy was lucky Forman was drunk because the punches didn’t have much power behind them. 

Murphy managed to roll Forman off him before the man could land another punch, and they both stood up, facing each other. Forman was swaying slightly, and Murphy thought that he could probably take him, but then Forman pulled a knife out of his boot. Murphy’s new fangs slid down at the threat and he saw red, and before he even knew what he was doing he had charged Forman and grabbed the wrist holding the knife and slammed him up against the building, then sank his teeth into his neck. He had only meant to disable him, to get him to drop the knife, but as soon as the fangs sank into the man’s throat Murphy’s mouth was flooded with blood and he moaned. God, it tasted so good! Gripping Forman tighter as the man struggled to get free, Murphy suddenly found himself inside the man’s head and he could actually feel his fear and panic, but then his own pleasured feelings overrode Forman’s panicked ones and the man relaxed in his arms. It was a heady and powerful feeling. 

He drank until he felt full. Food and water had been so scarce lately that he had been very hungry and thirsty. He removed his fangs from Forman’s neck feeling totally satisfied, and his fangs retracted on their own. He let go of Forman and the man dropped to the ground with a thud. “Oh shit,” Murphy said, looking down at him. He didn’t appear to be breathing. It looked as if he had killed the prick. In addition, considering the fact that he had just drank the man’s blood and enjoyed it, it would appear that he was really turning into some form of vampire. Looking around guiltily and feeling suddenly frightened that he would be found out, he pocketed the keys, deciding to forget about the car for now, and ran back inside the Fu-Bar to his group and the safety that they provided him. 

“Let's hope they'll take a busted up truck for the entrance fee,” Doc said, as he and 10K stood in line to sign up. 

Just then a girl at the front of the line finished signing up, and as she turned around and walked toward them, 10K was surprised to see that she looked to be about his age. She was also making absolutely no attempt to hide the fact that she was checking him out. 

As she passed him he turned around fully to watch her walk away. 

“Eyes on the prize, boy, not on that cute little filly’s backside,” Doc said, as Addy took him by the shoulders and turned him back around facing front. 

_She was definitely cute,_ he thought. 

“Next!” the man at the table yelled out. “Have your entry fees ready.” 

Citizen V was nervously monitoring the satellite feed he was receiving. He had been following his team’s progress using a program he had set up that tracked Hammond’s walkie-talkie. So as long as the battery was good he could keep tabs on where his team was. It looked as though his team had stopped at some little speck on the map called Bone Gap, Illinois in the middle of nowhere. He could see a large structure on the satellite feed that appeared to have a lot of vampire heat signatures in it, and then there were a lot of human heat signatures immediately around the structure, but not much else. But what concerned him more at the moment was the number of vampires he was tracking on two sides of his team’s location heading north. There were literally hundreds of them, and some of them were less than ten miles from his team’s current location. They appeared to be migrating north in the direction of larger cities like Springfield and Chicago, but in flat, open country like this it wouldn’t take much to draw their attention. A loud noise or a strong smell carried to them on the wind, and things could turn ugly fast. He had tried to get ahold of his team on the walkie-talkie and apprise them of the situation, but no one had picked up. He suspected that they had left the walkie-talkie in their vehicle when they went off to do whatever it was they were doing. 

He just hoped that whatever they were doing didn’t include any loud noises or blood-shed that would attract these migrating V’s. 

“Alright, ladies and gentlemen. It's that moment you've all been waiting for. It's shootin' time!” Sketchy shouted out loudly through a traffic cone he was using as a megaphone. 

There was enthusiastic applause and whistles from the crowd, and last words of advice and encouragement to the twelve contestants from their families and friends. 10K watched the girl’s father giving her a pep talk and felt a moment of envy as he wished his own pa was here. 

“Now, let’s go over the rules real quick,” Sketchy called out. “There is a door on each side of the warehouse. You all get to choose which door you want to go through. Skeezy is already inside the warehouse up high on a catwalk, and he’ll be watching you all and reporting what’s going on to the rest of us via this walkie-talkie,” he said, holding it up. “The person who kills the most vampires wins. If you get bitten, you’re disqualified. If you shoot or stab a fellow competitor, you’re disqualified. Skeezy is the judge, and what the judge says is final. Good luck, and may the best vampire killer win!” he shouted out. “Now, go, pick your door. You have two minutes to get in position.” 

10K immediately ran around to one side of the building. The girl ran around to the same side. 

“Hi, I’m Ten Thousand,” he said while they waited. 

“I don’t need to know your name to kick your ass,” she said haughtily. “Why did you pick the side door?” she asked after a few seconds, looking at him curiously. 

“Probably for the same reason as you,” he said. “With all the talking and shouting in the front, the ferals are probably bunched around there and will immediately attack whoever goes in the front door. Some of the people will go in the front thinking if the majority of ferals are there they stand the best chance of making a bunch of quick kills, but if they get attacked and bitten it won’t matter because they’ll be disqualified. And I didn’t pick the back because I would lose too much time getting to the front where the action will be.” 

“Exactly,” the girl said, nodding and looking impressed, despite herself. 

10K took his sniper’s rifle and swung the strap over his head and positioned the rifle so that it was riding on his back. He pulled out a handgun from one of his many pockets and stuck it down the front of his pants, then pulled out his slingshot and a handful of cogs. He positioned one of the cogs on the slingshot so that it was ready to fire. 

“You’re joking with that, right?” she said, looking at him like he was insane. 

“Think about it,” he said. “Long rifles, like you and several of the others are using, are great for long distance shooting, but not so good for close-up fighting. Plus, every time someone fires off a gun, they’re letting every feral know exactly where they are. This thing is silent and deadly.” 

“BEGIN!” they heard Sketchy shout out. A man positioned next to their door opened it immediately, and closed and locked it as soon as they ran inside. 

“You don’t actually think you can kill a vampire with that thing, do you?” the girl asked, and the look she gave him was pitying. 

Just then a feral came out of nowhere headed right for them. 10K fired his slingshot automatically. It was second nature to him by now. The cog hit the feral square between the eyes before the girl had raised her gun into position. 

“1,262. Does that answer your question?” he said, smiling at her before running off toward the front of the building. She stood there and watched him leave for a couple of seconds with a small smile on her own face before heading off herself, choosing a different path. This was a competition after all. 

10K heard lots of gunfire toward the front of the warehouse, as he anticipated, and increased his pace to get there and hopefully sneak up behind the ferals and start picking them off. He heard Skeezy shouting out results above him on the catwalk, but with the gunfire, shouts and screams, he couldn’t hear what was going on. 

This warehouse apparently had housed farming equipment and supplies back before the apocalypse, and there were a lot of tall metal shelves loaded with boxes that created a sort of maze; plus he had to navigate around large tractors, trailers, balers, wagons, combines, plows, mowers, planters, sprayers, and large displays of seed bags, fertilizer and other assorted things that farmers apparently used. There were a million places that ferals could be hiding, but from the screams he was hearing coming from the front of the structure, he knew that some of the people had already been bit and that the smell of blood would be drawing the ferals and putting them into a feeding frenzy. He needed to hurry or he was going to miss the action. He had only killed one feral and he figured he needed to kill at least five to stand a chance of winning this. 

“All right, who shot Darren Cooper?” he heard Skeezy shout out. “Voorhees, you're disqualified!” 

Darren Cooper had been that ex-ranger sniper, so one of his main competitors was now out of the picture. Even if Cooper had only been wounded by the shot, the smell of his blood would have the ferals swarming him. He saw movement up ahead, lots of it, so he knew he was almost to the front of the building. He slowed down a bit, looking around cautiously, not wanting to get caught off guard by a feral lurking out of sight. He spotted a feral feeding off a struggling man the vamp had pinned against some shelves, and when he was near enough to it, he fired his slingshot. “1,263.” 

“And 10K scores another one!” he heard Skeezy announce. “Mulligan, you’re bit, you’re out.” 

There was a lot of close fighting, a lot of blood, so it was a difficult to tell who was who. He needed to be sure he was firing at a feral and not a competitor. He spotted the girl approaching from the opposite side of the warehouse with her rifle raised, and she took aim and shot two in quick succession. They were tied now. 

“Snyder, you got bit, you're out,” Skeezy announced. 10K looked over and saw a female feral on top of a man feeding off of him, and it looked so sexual at first that he hesitated a second before firing. His cog found its mark just before he heard the crack of the girl’s rifle. 

Skeezy announced the kill as his, and he was now one up on her, but there were still a few other competitors standing and he didn’t know what their kill counts were. The number of ferals seemed to be dwindling so he needed to score some more fast. He heard the sound of the girl’s rifle again and saw another feral fall. They were tied again. 

He tucked the slingshot away and pulled out the handgun, moving closer to the action. He shot one quickly that was hissing at him, preparing to launch itself at him. He was about to shoot another one when a feral came at him from the side. He saw it out of the corner of his eye and tried to swing the gun, but didn’t make it in time. It was a female and she tried to wrap her arms around him so she could go for his throat, but he managed to get the arm holding the gun between their bodies, holding her at bay. She was pulling him, trying to get him closer, gnashing her teeth while trying to get to his neck, all the while making these horrible needful sounds that had the hair standing up all over his body. He was trying to angle the gun up toward her face while it was pressed between their bodies, but it was slow going because she was holding him so tight. Finally he leaned his head back as far as he could and fired. The bullet went up through her chin and out the back of her skull. He pushed her limp body off him and swung the gun around in case another one was trying to sneak up on him. 

As he looked around, the fighting appeared to have stopped. A few other humans were still standing, a couple of them bleeding and looking a bit shell shocked, plus the girl was still standing, but he didn’t see any more ferals. He’d killed five but he didn’t know if it was enough. He walked toward the girl to ask her what her count was, and she was walking toward him, probably with the same intention, but when they were six feet apart, a male feral suddenly appeared on a stack of boxes right behind her getting ready to launch itself at her. Reacting on instinct he pushed her out of the way just as it jumped. It landed on him instead, and the momentum knocked him to the ground with the thing on top of him. He had his hands on its shoulders, holding it at bay until someone could hopefully shoot it, but the thing twisted its head to the side, grabbed his wrist and sank its fangs into it. He bit his tongue to keep from screaming as the thing began sucking his blood in desperation. His mind was instantly flooded with the creatures feelings, but instead of the pleasure he had felt coming from the first man who had bit him, or the joyful feeling from that little Girl Scout, this time his mind was flooded with a red hot haze of hunger and pain, and a burning need so intense that his mouth went dry and his throat felt like it was being scraped raw with razor blades. His body felt like it was cramping and it was like no matter how fast he drank he couldn’t get enough and he needed more to quench the thirst and stop the pain. 

A shot rang out and the feral fell sideways, and 10K had to go with it in order to keep the teeth from ripping open his wrist. He extracted its teeth from his wrist and sat on the ground, looking at the teeth marks. The feral had been sucking so hard that his hand and entire arm had gone numb, and he stood up and started shaking his arm to get some blood flow back in there. He had never really understood what the ferals were going through until now. He couldn’t forgive them for killing his pa, but he now understood what motivated them to kill like they do. The need, the pain was so overwhelming that it blocked out all rational thought. 

“And 10K has been bit and is disqualified,” he heard Skeezy announce. “All ferals are now dead, so everyone who’s left standing can come back outside so we can announce our winner,” he said. And the front door opened up to let them out. 

He left the warehouse and walked slowly toward his group, feeling disappointed that he had failed. He glanced over and saw the girl heading over to her pa, who looked ecstatic, so he figured she must have won. 

“You did real good, kid,” Doc said, patting him on the shoulder. “You almost had it.” 

“You came close,” Addy said. “It was that last 30 seconds that did you in.” 

“I see another vampire has been sucking on you,” Murphy said scornfully with his hands crossed over his chest as he stared at his wrist.

“Murphy!” Doc said scoldingly, shaking his head at him. Then staring at Murphy more closely he frowned and said, “Is that blood on your mouth?” 

“No!” he said, wiping his mouth roughly with his sleeve. “I may have bitten my tongue in the excitement,” he improvised. 

“Hmm,” Doc said, frowning. 

Then Sketchy was announcing the winner, drawing all eyes as he handed the gun to the girl. 

10K sighed. If he hadn’t saved her there at the end, he’d be holding that rifle right now. But he just couldn’t let that happen. 

He saw the girl hand the rifle over to her father; then to his surprise she headed toward him. The group took a couple of steps back to give them a little space, but they were watching curiously to see what she wanted. 

She walked right up to him, said, “Thank you,” and then grabbed the front of his shirt with both hands and pulled him in for a scorching kiss. When she let him go she said, “My name’s Brit, by the way.” 

“That’s not a name, that’s a nationality,” he said slowly, feeling dizzy from the kiss and from her scent. God, she was an alpha and she smelled incredible. 

“It’s short for Brittany, smartass,” she said, but she was smiling and looking at him fondly. Then she ran her fingertips down his cheek before turning and walking away, that sassy ponytail of hers swinging as she walked. She turned back around once and gave him a flirtatious look. 

“Well, well, well,” Addy said. “Looks like our little omega is growing up. Do I dare ask what she was thanking you for?” 

“No. But I can tell you that whatever it was, it was totally worth it,” he said with a dreamy look on his face, still staring after her. 

That caused several raised eyebrows among the group. Cassandra came up to him and patted him on the shoulder. “It looked like she was a really good kisser,” his fellow omega said. 

“That was my first kiss, so I’m not sure,” he said. “But it sure felt nice.” 

“Well she looked like a piranha trying to eat your face,” Murphy said derisively, feeling a twinge of unwanted jealousy, but 10K just gave him a dopey grin, which only annoyed him further. 

Everyone’s attention was suddenly drawn to Sketchy as they heard him say, “I keep telling you, there’s no one here by the name of Operation Bitemark.” Sketchy was talking into the walkie-talkie that he had been using to get Skeezy’s reports, and he looked clearly annoyed. 

“Wait, what’s that about Operation Bitemark?” Doc said, the whole team hurrying over to where Sketchy was. 

“I’ve got this guy who keeps cutting into my signal asking for Operation Bitemark, and I keep telling him there’s no one here by that name.” 

“May I?” Charlie said, taking the walkie-talkie from him before he could answer. “This is Charles Garnett with Operation Bitemark. Over,” he said. 

_“Sergeant Garnett, thank God,”_ they all heard Citizen V’s voice say. _“I’ve been trying desperately to reach you for the last 30 minutes. You have a serious problem. I’ve been monitoring hundreds of V’s near your current location, and for a while it looked as if they were just going to pass right on by you, but then suddenly around 30 minutes ago all the V’s suddenly changed direction and are now heading right for you!_

“That’s right around the time the contest started,” Warren said, shaking her head. “They probably heard all that gunfire and screaming. Not to mention the smell of blood. How could we be so stupid.” 

“Are there any gaps? Any way out?” Charlie asked. 

_“That’s a negative, Sergeant. The V’s are coming at you from two sides and slowly converging. By the time they reach you—which I estimate will be in about 15 minutes—they’ll have basically surrounded you at that point. If you try to drive through them they’ll just swarm you,”_ he said. 

“Well, we’re sitting ducks here,” Charlie said, as Warren pointed in the distance and they saw a line of raised dust that pretty much circled all around them. “Any suggestions?” Charlie asked. 

Citizen V chewed his thumbnail considering. There was one thing he had been considering, something he wouldn’t normally even contemplate because it was dangerous, but desperate times called for desperate measures. 

_“Is that large building near where you’re at wood or metal?” he asked._

“It’s metal. Why?” Charlie asked. 

_“I need you to get every human that’s there into that building and barricade the doors.”_

“That’s it? We’re just going to barricade ourselves in that warehouse and wait until a swarm of hungry vampires breaks down the doors?” Murphy said derisively. “Oh, that’s brilliant. That’s just brilliant.”

_“I’m working on something, but it’s going to take me a few minutes to sync everything up. In the meantime, I need every human in that building and out of the line of fire!” Citizen V said._

“O-kay,” Warren said, looking at Charlie, wondering what that meant. “You heard the man,” she shouted. “Get everyone inside the warehouse and ‘out of the line of fire’! Move it!” 

10K immediately ran after Brittany and her father while the gang cleared out the Fu-Bar and gathered everyone inside the warehouse. Murphy looked around for Forman, but didn’t see him. He was pretty sure the man was dead but hadn’t been positive. He felt a bit guilty, but then if the man had been alive, he didn’t need him blabbing to his team that he had bitten him. 

“Who’s this guy on the walkie-talkie anyway?” Brit asked 10K when they were all inside. 

“Citizen V. Maybe you’ve heard of him?” 10K said. 

“ _THE_ Citizen V? The voice of the apocalypse?” she said, and even her father looked impressed. 

“The one and only,” 10K said. 

“You actually know Citizen V?” 

“Oh yeah. He’s sort of our guardian angel.” 

“Well I hope he has something major planned or it sounds like we’re all gonna be vampire chow,” Sketchy said, clearly overhearing them. 

“That makes two of us,” Doc said, standing next to them. 

Everyone barricaded all the doors the best they could. 

“Citizen V, we’re in the warehouse and the doors are barricaded,” Warren reported. 

And not a moment too soon as they all jumped as the first wave of vampires hit the sides of the building and started pounding on the doors and walls, looking for a way in. 

“I don’t know what you’ve got planned, but now’s the time,” Warren said nervously. 

_“All right, I need you to get everyone to the center of the building. It may get a bit hot in there, but no matter what happens, just stay in the center as far away from the walls as possible,”_ he said, his fingers dancing furiously over the keys. _“Come on, come on,”_ he said as he punched in the codes, hijacking another satellite, getting it into position. _“Are you in the center yet?”_ he asked, glancing at the team’s satellite feed and seeing that the vampires had converged on all four sides of the building in terrifying numbers. 

“We are! So whatever you’ve got planned, do it now!” Charlie yelled. The pounding and keening of hungry vampires surrounding them was terrifying. Cassandra was on her knees with her hands over her ears, trying to remain calm and trust that Citizen V would come through for them. 

_“Don’t move no matter what,”_ Citizen V reiterated. _“It’s time for the vampires to meet Godzilla,”_ he said, sounding a little bit excited. 

“Wait, what did he say?” Mack asked. 

“I bet that little peeping Tom is up there playing video games,” Murphy said. 

“Keep your shorts on, Murphy, and give the man a chance,” Doc said. “Whatever Godzilla is, I’m sure we’re about to find out.” 

Data and diagrams danced across Simon’s screens. He had to be very careful or he would fry his crew as well as the vampires. The way the program worked, it fired in thirty foot square grid blocks due to its destructive power. He zoomed in on the most concentrated number of V’s, trying to make sure he didn’t hit the building, and unleased Godzilla. 

Everyone in the warehouse was pacing and fidgeting nervously as the vampires continued to beat on the walls, and they anxiously awaited whatever it was that Citizen V had planned. They didn’t have to wait long. They all startled and quickly covered their eyes as a blindingly bright blue-white incandescent light shone through some the warehouse windows that were set high above them near the ceiling of the warehouse and lit the place up. There was also a strange bone-vibrating hum, and the ground seemed to be shaking as if there was an earthquake. 

“What’s happening?” Addy shouted over the loud hum, trying to maintain her footing while the ground shook. 

“I don’t know, but my guess is that that’s Godzilla,” Warren shouted back. 

The pounding on one of the walls seemed to miraculously stop, and the air was suddenly filled with the stench of ozone and burnt flesh. The temperature also did seem to be climbing. Charlie’s group was trying to remain calm, but he saw other people screaming and rolling their eyes fearfully, looking like they wanted to bolt. The strange humming stopped, but then it started back up again, and one corner of the warehouse suddenly disintegrated under a wave of that blinding blue-white light. They were all simultaneously hit with a blast of superheated air coming through the now open corner of the building that had the temperature in the warehouse soaring at least 30 degrees and made it difficult to breathe. It was as if the ray had burned all of the oxygen out of the air. 

As the beam moved away from the warehouse and fresh air poured through the gap, everyone started breathing easier. They watched in awe, and not a small amount of fear, as a wide beam that seemed to coming down from the sky moved away from them in a straight trajectory and disintegrated everything in its path. Vampires vanished, parked cars disintegrated, and grass and trees disappeared, leaving nothing behind. 

But the ferals were so crazed with hunger and pain that when they spotted the opening in the warehouse, they attempted to walk across the smoking ground to get to them, and their shoes and pants actually caught on fire. A few still managed to get inside the building despite all this, and the group shot them, but then had to cover their eyes as yet another blast of light and heat cut another path on the other side of the building. While the group kept the stray ferals from getting to them, Citizen V continued to unleash the fury of Godzilla on all four sides of the building. 

Finally, everything went quiet and everyone walked cautiously to the open corner of the building and looked out with expressions ranging from horror to awe. There was nothing left. Even the bugs and worms in the ground could not have survived that. The area was nothing but a smoking wasteland. 

“Damn!” Doc said, looking around in awe. 

“That’s an understatement,” Addy said, looking around wide-eyed. 

“I guess that’s why Citizen V asked if the building was wood or metal,” Charlie said. “If it was wood it would most definitely be on fire right now.” 

“Uh-huh,” Warren said, still looking a bit stunned. 

“Still think he’s up there playing video games?” 10K asked Murphy. 

_“Is everyone okay?”_ came a worried voice over the walkie-talkie. 

“Yeah, we’re all fine,” Charlie said, taking a quick head count. 

_“Sorry about that one pass. I know I took out one corner of the building. That’s why I needed you guys to stay in the center of the building, because aiming this thing is tricky.”_

“So that was Godzilla?” Charlie said. “What exactly is Godzilla and what the hell are we doing with something like that?” 

_“Oh, Godzilla isn’t ours,”_ Simon said. _“The Japanese developed it. That’s why it took me a little longer to hijack it. I don’t read or speak Japanese.”_

“The Japanese have a death-ray satellite?” Mack asked. 

_“Enhanced-laser technology. And they have eight satellites in the system.”_

“And here I thought they spent all their time outdoing us by making better cell phones and laptops,” Charlie said. 

_“We actually do have something similar, but it’s not quite as good. Besides, their name is cooler. Ours is called Hyperspace Hammer. Doesn’t have the same impact.”_

“So, you can commandeer a Japanese defense satellite,” Addy said. “That is totally bad-ass!” she said, clearly impressed. 

Smiling and sitting up a little taller at the praise, Simon said, _“Whatever it takes to protect my team.”_

“Well nice shooting, Tex,” Doc said. “How long before we can walk on the ground out there?” 

_“It’s superheated right now, so I’d give it at least two hours to cool, just to be safe,”_ came the reply. 

“Well thanks again, Citizen V. Over,” Charlie said, signing out. “Wow,” he said, looking at Warren. 

“I’m just glad he’s on our side,” she said. 

“Well, I guess we have a couple hours to kill.” 

“You do realize that that nerd took out every single car with that laser beam,” Murphy said, and everyone in the warehouse groaned, especially Sketchy and Skeezy who bemoaned the loss of their truckload of “sweet weaponry.”

“There are some pretty nice tractors in here,” 10K said. “And I saw some wagons that could be hooked to the back of the tractors.” 

Two hours later the gang said their goodbyes to everyone and headed out in the back of a hay wagon hooked up to a tractor with Mack driving. 10K had gotten another good-bye kiss from Brit after he had helped her fuel up a smaller tractor for her and her pa. 

“That was quite an adventure,” Doc said, legs stretched out in front of him in the long wagon. “Who knew Citizen V had that kind of power, and all the way from Camp Northern Light, no less.” 

“Well it doesn’t help him get us to California any quicker,” Murphy complained, shifting on the hard wooden floor. “Instead of whipping up a laser beam, why can’t he whip us up a plane or a helicopter to fly us to California if he’s so powerful?” 

“Even if he did, none of us knows how to fly,” Warren said reasonably. “We’ll get there eventually.” 

“I don’t know,” Addy said. “I looked at the top speed on this tractor’s speedometer and it only goes as high as 20 miles per hour.” 

“Well, then I definitely have time for a nap,” Doc said, laying back and closing his eyes. 

Murphy sat there thinking, hand in his pocket fiddling with the keys to the Forman-mobile. He had fangs now and he had actually bit someone and drank their blood today. And he had enjoyed it. He had also definitely been able to enter Forman’s mind and control him, just like a vampire. Was he turning into a vampire? Why would he be turning into a vampire after all this time, especially when those vampires that bit him after he received the vaccine turned human? He needed answers and it seemed like it was taking forever to get to California. 

He found himself staring at the kid’s wrist where the feral in the warehouse had bit him and felt an unexpected surge of possessive rage go through him. 

“Murphy, you okay?” Warren asked, noticing his expression. 

“Oh, uh, yeah. Just a crazy day,” he said, throwing up his hands and laughing it off. 

“You know, you’ve changed,” she said, looking him over with those eyes that missed nothing. “Your hair looks shinier, your eyes look brighter, and your skin has a nice healthy blush to it,” she said, looking perplexed. 

“Well, I’m sure I wasn’t looking my best when you all were seeing me in a coma. Now that I’m awake and taking care of myself, I’m sure I do look better,” he improvised. 

“That’s true,” she said, seeming satisfied with that answer and putting her head on Charlie’s shoulder. Giving him one final look, she closed her eyes to rest. 

Murphy frowned. If he was noticeably changing physically… Looking around to make sure no one was looking at him, he raised his shirt to look at his scars. The only thing was, there weren’t any scars to see. His heart stuttered when all he saw was flawless skin. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next chapter the gang enters a town that seems too good to be true, where humans and vampires co-exist together in peace and harmony. But you know what they say about anything that seems too good to be true! I hope you’ll join me next chapter as things take an unexpected and shocking turn for our gang.


	11. Chapter 11

“ _Harmony, next right_ ,” Charlie read, easing his foot off the gas pedal so he could read the entire sign. “ _A fully integrated community where vampires and humans live together in peace and harmony. Visitors welcome. Food and fuel available._ Huh. What do you think?” he asked Warren, who was riding shotgun next to him. 

“I’ll tell you what I think,” Murphy cut in before she could answer. “I think anyone who says that vampires and humans can live together in peace and harmony is either a liar or an idiot.” 

Murphy was currently stretched out, taking up the entire back seat of the shiny new double-cab metallic blue Chevy Silverado pick-up truck they had found abandoned at a gas station about eighty miles back. The door had been left wide open, so probably the former owner had stopped to see if there was any gas left in the fuel tanks and had been ambushed by V’s. Nonetheless, the truck had been a welcome upgrade from the tractor they had been using for transportation the past two days, crawling along at a snail’s pace of 20 miles per hour. So they had siphoned out what little gas remained in the tractor and added it to the small amount in the truck. It had gotten them this far, but they were currently running on fumes. 

Looking at Charlie Roberta said, “He might be right. Or, it might be a trap.” 

“That’s kind of what I was thinking,” he replied. 

“On the other hand, maybe these people figured out a way to make it work,” she said. “If they do have food and fuel, it might be worth the risk. It’s your call.” 

“Well, the gas gauge is on E, so we’ll be on foot if we don’t find gas soon, and that’s always dangerous. Why don’t we drive through the town and give it a look-see, and if things look legit we stop, but if things look hinky we don’t stop, we just keep going.” 

“Sounds like a plan. All right, let’s do this,” she said, sitting up straighter and looking alert as Charlie turned right toward Harmony. 

“There’s another sign ahead,” Roberta said. “ _Welcome to Harmony, Population 992 and climbing. Stop at the checkpoint ahead._ What’s this about do you suppose?” 

“I don’t know, but we’re about to find out,” he said, slowing the truck as they traveled down a narrow stretch of road toward a barricade. Three men were standing in front of the barricade, one that looked like a sheriff in his khaki-colored uniform and wide brimmed hat, and two others flanking him that appeared to be his deputies. The sheriff had a holstered handgun, but the two deputies had shotguns at the ready that were both currently pointing at them. 

“Crap, I hate it when people point guns at us,” Charlie said, stopping the truck and rolling down his window. “It’s just so inhospitable.” 

“Well, they’re human,” she pronounced, giving them a quick look through the thermographic reader and checking their heat signatures. She wrapped her hand around the handle of her machete as the sheriff approached Charlie’s window. His hat was pulled down low, protecting his eyes from the sun, and when he tilted his head back and smiled at them, the smile on his face didn’t quite reach his eyes. He was a big man in his late 40’s with broad shoulders and an athletic build. 

“Welcome to Harmony, folks,” the sheriff said, putting a hand on Charlie’s open window and bending down to look them over in the cab, then standing up straight and glancing toward the truck bed to where the others were. “I’m Sheriff Howard, and these two young fellas behind me are my deputies, Sam Fuller and Randy Johnson. You folks all human?” he asked. 

“Yes,” Charlie answered warily. “Why do you ask?” 

“Oh, I just like to get an idea of who it is wants to enter my town,” the sheriff said. “You’re welcome to enter our town, rest up a bit, get something to eat, do a little trading. We’ve got food, gas, and supplies here. There’s only one stipulation. In order to enter our town you have to check your weapons. No exceptions.” 

“I knew there’d be a catch,” Murphy mumbled, flopping back in his seat. 

“With all due respect, Sheriff,” Roberta said, “why do we have to check our weapons?” 

“Harmony is unique in that we have vampires and humans living together side-by-side. We’ve found a way to make it work, and we want it to continue to work. As you can imagine, it’s a delicate balance, and all it would take to upset the balance is some trigger-happy visitor with a grudge against vampires coming into town and maybe having a little too much to drink and shooting up the locals. So in order to keep things working smooth here, we have a zero tolerance for violence. Nobody in town but me and my deputies are allowed to carry a gun, or any other kind of weapon for that matter. So, if you want to enter our fair town you have to hand over your weapons. ALL your weapons,” he said, glancing down pointedly at Warren’s machete. “If you don’t feel comfortable handing over your weapons, I certainly won’t take it personal. Just turn your vehicle around and head back the way you came, and I’m sure you’ll be able to find food and gas somewhere else,” he said with a knowing smile. 

Roberta and Charlie exchanged a look. 

“Can you give us a second to talk it over, sheriff?” Charlie asked. 

“Sure. I’ll be right over here,” he said, going to stand next to his deputies. 

“So, what do you think?” Warren said softly. 

“Well, it’s their town, their rules. I don’t see any bite marks on any of them. If we run out of gas we’ll end up on foot again, and I really hate it when we’re on foot,” Charlie said. “We’re just too exposed and vulnerable. Besides, I really like this truck,” he said, running his hands over the steering wheel affectionately. “It might be worth the risk.” 

“It’s your necks,” Murphy grumbled. “Literally.” 

“Well how about food then?” Charlie said with exasperation, looking at Murphy in the rearview mirror. “We haven’t eaten anything but fried crickets in two days. Wouldn’t it be nice if they do have food here?” 

“Yeah, but none of us has any money,” Murphy complained. “How are we going to get food without money?” 

“When we check our guns we’ll ask the sheriff what forms of payment are acceptable here,” Charlie said. “We should have something we can trade for a little food and gas.” 

“All right, let’s do this,” Warren said, getting out of the truck. 

“What are we doing?” Addy asked, jumping out of the back of the truck and running up to Warren, with Mack, Doc, 10K and Cassandra trailing behind her. 

“We’re going into town here to try and do a little trading, but we have to turn over our weapons first in order to enter the town.” 

“You’re joking, right?” 10K said. 

“Nope,” she said, laying her machete on a long table set up next to the checkpoint. Charlie already had his revolver and hammer sitting on the table and was ushering the others forward. 

“Nice bat,” one of the deputies said as Addy laid her bat on the table. 

“Yeah, take good care of her, she’s one-of-a-kind,” she said, looking longingly at the bat as the deputy put it inside some type of big lockbox with all their weapons. 

10K walked up to the table then and both deputies and the sheriff stared in amazement as he laid his sniper’s rifle on the table, then continued to pull weapon after weapon from different parts of his anatomy: a handgun, knife, slingshot, brass knuckles, another gun, and finally a long length of chain he pulled out of the front of his pants. 

“Huh. I never would have guessed he had that down there,” Doc said, shaking his head as 10K dropped the heavy chain on the table. 

One of the deputies picked up the rifle and whistled as he ran his hand over it saying, “My, oh my, ain’t she a beaut.” Then looking right at 10K he said, “And the rifle’s nice too,” and gave him a cheeky wink. 10K’s eyes got big and he blushed bright red before turning around and heading back toward the truck. 

“What about you?” the sheriff said, tipping his hat toward Murphy, who was leaning against the truck with his arms crossed over his chest. 

“Who me? Oh, I’m a pacifist,” Murphy said, doing a slow turn to show no hidden weapons. 

The sheriff signaled one of the deputies to pat him down anyway while the other deputy kept him covered. 

“Nothing,” the deputy confirmed. 

“See?” Murphy said, smiling. 

“So, Sheriff, how do we go about trading for a little food and gas?” Roberta asked. “What can you use for currency in this town?” 

“Oh, a lot of different things, including money, if you still have any,” the sheriff said rather evasively. “But I’m gonna send you folks on over to _The Watering Hole_. It’s a local bar that serves as a sort of welcome wagon to visitors, and the first drink is on the house,” he said, smiling. “Conrad, the owner of the bar, will give you a quick orientation and answer all your questions while you have your drink.” 

“I’m liking this town better already,” Murphy said, looking suddenly happy. “Well, what’re you all waiting for?” he said, “Get back in the truck so we can go get our orientation!” 

“We _will_ get all our weapons back when we leave town?” Warren asked. 

“Absolutely,” the sheriff said. “Unless you folks decide to stay. A lot of people like this place so much they never want to leave. We’re always happy to welcome new blood into the community. Uh, that’s figuratively speaking, of course,” he said with a smile that looked fake. 

“Of course,” Warren said, fake smiling right back at him. 

The deputies opened the barricade and the group saw a long stretch of straight road with houses and businesses on both sides. The sheriff pointed out _The Watering Hole_ , the sign barely visible down at the end of the main road. 

As they drove down the street they were amazed at how normal everything looked. The streets were clean, there were no signs of looting or vandalism, and people were actually strolling around looking relaxed and carefree. 

“I feel like I’m in an episode of the Twilight Zone right now,” Doc said in the cargo bed, looking around. “The one where the people are actually aliens wearing people suits.” 

“I know,” Addy said. “It’s weird how normal everything looks, like the apocalypse never happened. It kind of gives you hope though. I mean, if this town found a way to make it work, maybe there’s hope for the rest of the world.” 

“Yeah, and maybe wolves will start living side-by-side with sheep next,” 10K said broodingly, feeling naked without his gun. “What?” he said when he noticed they were all looking at him. “It’s the same thing, isn’t it? We’re nothing but food to them. We can never forget that if we want to keep living.” 

_The Watering Hole_ was a nice bar, cool and clean inside, with lots of varnished wood and brass fixtures. It was surprisingly crowded for the early afternoon. They walked up to the bar and a man immediately walked over to greet them. 

“Ah, newcomers! Welcome! I’m Conrad, the owner of this fine establishment. As the sheriff probably already told you, the first drink is on the house. Will you be needing a human or vampire menu of drink options?” he asked, looking them over. 

After the gang exchanged surprised looks, Charlie said, “human,” and Conrad handed them all a laminated sheet that listed food items as well as drink options. 

“Wow, this is impressive,” Doc said, looking over the choices. 

“Oh my God, they have cheeseburgers! I can’t remember the last time I had a cheeseburger,” Addy said, practically drooling. 

“So, what can I get you fine folks to drink?” Conrad asked, smiling and looking expectant. 

Charlie, Roberta, Murphy, Doc, Addy and Mack ordered a draft beer, and 10K and Cassandra opted for a Coke. 

“So, Conrad,” Addy said, looking around the bar at the people sipping different drinks, “what exactly is on the vampire menu?” 

Conrad handed another laminated menu to her, this one shorter, containing only drink options. 

“What’s a Sweet Tooth?” Mack asked, looking over Addy’s shoulder at the menu. 

“That is blood taken from an untreated diabetic.” 

They all looked at him questioningly. 

“A diabetic’s blood is sweeter, so to a vampire it’s almost like having desert.” 

“What’s a Wine-O?” Addy asked, looking up from the menu. 

“Blood taken from a person who has just consumed a large quantity of wine. Not the cheap stuff, but high quality stuff. We have a few people in this town who actually have wine cellars stocked with the good stuff. Vampires can’t consume alcohol as such, but if it’s already absorbed into the bloodstream, then they get some of the taste and effect.” 

"And a Smoker’s Delight?" 

"Blood from a long-time smoker. Cigarette smoke is inhaled into the lungs, and all that tar and nicotine gradually seeps into the bloodstream. Vamps who used to smoke enjoy that hit of nicotine flavor." 

“How exactly is this blood acquired?” Warren cut in, looking at Conrad with a touch of suspicion. 

“It’s all willingly given, I assure you,” Conrad said. “We have a barter system here where people can trade their blood for food and supplies. That’s why this town works. Humans freely give their blood so they can trade it for things they need; and, as such, vampires have a continuous supply of blood so that they’re never hungry. This ensures a peaceful coexistence.” 

“How does that work exactly?” Warren asked. 

“There’s a place in town we call _The Trading Post._ It used to be a big candy factory before the apocalypse and was the town’s main source of income. After the apocalypse happened the company folded, but then a vampire by the name of Peter came up with the idea of turning it into a place where humans could donate a pint of their blood in exchange for food or gas or supplies, and conversely, vampires could trade food, gas or supplies for blood. It ended up saving the town. We help the vampires, the vampires help us, and the town survives.” 

10K snorted and everyone looked at him. “Oh, come on,” he said. “You know this won’t last. One side will eventually turn on the other. Vampires only see us as walking protein shakes.” 

“Not true,” Conrad said. “I have many vampire friends here in town. You may not think it can work, son, but I’m here to tell you that this town proves that it can.” 

“So, how does _The Trading Post_ work exactly?” Doc asked. 

“It’s just like donating blood at the hospital. Everything is clean and sterile. You go in, tell them you want to make a trade. They take a pint of your blood, classify it, and then refrigerate it, and give you a certain amount in credits to purchase things that are available in the store. Or you can use the credits in other places in town, like here. Then conversely your blood is available for purchase by vampires who can trade for it using food, supplies and gas.” 

“Well what about her?” Cassandra asked, pointing out a woman wearing a low-cut top and a short skirt with fang marks clearly on her throat. 

“Oh, that’s Lola. Some vampires are willing to pay extra to feed directly from the source,” Conrad said. “And some humans either do it for the extra money, or because they get off on it,” he said shrugging. “There are some humans who actually like getting bit. I guess it’s a big turn on, especially during sex. I make no judgments.” 

“That’s gross,” 10K said, but Murphy was looking at the woman with interest. 

They watched as Lola started flirting with a man at the end of the bar who had the pale looks of a vampire. He had a glass filled with a red liquid in front of him. 

10K just wrinkled his nose and turned away. 

So, can I get you folks anything else?” Conrad asked, as they finished their drinks. “Some food maybe?” 

“Not right now. We’re going to have to do a little trading first,” Charlie said. “This Trading Post, they definitely have gas there?” 

“Absolutely,” Conrad said. “Gas, food, dry goods—just about anything you need. With eight of you, you should make out pretty good.” 

“So, how do we find _The Trading Post_?” Roberta asked. 

“Just go north two blocks and turn right. You can’t miss it. It’s a huge factory.” 

“Well thank you very much for the drinks, Conrad. Maybe we’ll be back later for a cheeseburger,” Charlie said, draining his glass and setting it on the bar. 

“Any time,” he said cheerily. 

Once they were outside in the sunlight Warren said, “So, what do you think?” 

Watching a woman walk by with a baby in a stroller Charlie said, “Well, everything looks good on the surface.” 

“Yeah, it does,” she said, “but I’ve got a weird feeling. I have to agree with 10K on this. Lions cannot live alongside lambs without thinking about lamb chops constantly.” 

“Amen to that,” Addy said, looking around nervously. 

“Well, can’t you guys just give some blood so we can come back here and get some cheeseburgers before we leave?” Murphy said irritably. “I’m sick of eating road kill.” 

“We do need that gas,” Charlie said. “We’ll go to _The Trading Post_ and see what they have and what they’re willing to offer for a pint of blood. We don’t have to do it if it seems off. Anybody still have a weapon?” 

“I have a knife in my boot,” 10K said. 

“Okay, good. If things turn south we rally around 10K.” 

“All right, let’s get this over with,” Warren said, getting back in the truck. 

_The Trading Post_ was on the very edge of town and was one of those huge brick buildings that looked like it had been standing since the late 1800’s. There were two big smokestacks on the roof that were currently silent. A large parking lot next to the building had only four other cars currently parked there. 

Walking up to the entrance, someone had made an effort to make the place look welcoming. There were tubs of summer flowers on either side of a freshly painted door, and a wooden sign over the door with THE TRADING POST in big red and gold letters. 

Charlie opened the door and went in first, and his eyes widened in surprise as he took in a cavernous room full of long tables that were covered in food. He even spotted baskets of fresh fruit and vegetables, which had his mouth watering. 

“Holy cow!” Mack said, as he entered the room. “This is incredible.” 

The entire group stared around wide-eyed as they saw other tables that contained dry goods, clothing, blankets, appliances, and then one table against the wall covered with gas cans. 

“I wonder if they have toilet paper,” Addy whispered to Warren. “I’m tired of using leaves.” 

“Welcome, friends,” a man said, coming from the back and approaching them. “Conrad called and told me to expect some new customers. My name is Dr. Kurian. Welcome to Harmony. Was there anything in particular you were interested in today?” he said, clasping his hands together and looking at them expectantly

“Gas,” Charlie said. “And maybe some food too.” 

“And enough credits for cheeseburgers,” Murphy added, looking at Charlie like he was an idiot for forgetting to mention it. 

“Let’s see what we can get first,” Charlie said. “So, how does this work?” he asked Dr. Kurian. 

“So, each pint of blood gets you twenty credits that you can either spend here or in any other business in this town. All of the items are tagged with their price.” 

“Huh, this blanket costs ten credits,” Mack said, looking at its price tag. 

“If any of you has a rare blood type or anything that makes your blood special, you get extra credits for that.” 

“How would we know that?” Cassandra asked. 

“Oh, I’ll know, he said, flashing a set of fangs that had the gang taking a step back and automatically reaching for weapons that weren’t there anymore.” 

“No need to get nervous,” Dr. Kurian said apologetically. “What I meant was that we’ll have each of you prick your finger and put a drop of your blood on a piece of gauze. I can determine by scent what blood type you are and if there is anything unusual about your blood. I can also tell if your blood is unsuitable in some way, and we have the right to reject any such blood.” 

“Unsuitable how?” Doc asked. 

“Like, for instance, if one of you had kidney disease, your blood would be tainted with an undesirable taste that would be unacceptable to us.” 

“That makes sense,” Doc said, looking at the others. 

“So, are you ready to trade?” Dr. Kurian said, rubbing his hands together eagerly. 

“Yes, I think so,” Charlie said, looking around the group, most of whom were nodding unenthusiastically.” 

“Eight of you—excellent,” Dr. Kurian said. 

“No, not him,” Charlie said, pointing at Murphy. 

“Oh?” Dr. Kurian said, looking at Murphy questioningly. 

“Yeah,” Addy said. “He has an unfortunate sexually transmitted disease that he hasn’t been able to kick,” she whispered conspiratorially. 

“Oh my!” Dr. Kurian said, taking an involuntary step away from Murphy, while the man in question seethed and glared daggers at Addy. “Well, seven then. If you’ll all come this way,” Dr. Kurian said, leading them toward the back of the room. 

The group followed Dr. Kurian around a long partition in the back that hid a row of red vinyl chairs, similar to chairs in a barber shop. There were two vampires in white lab coats back there already taking blood from a portly man who was sweating and looked pale. Doc wondered if maybe he was one of those people with diabetes that Conrad was telling them about. 

The tech who wasn’t monitoring the man came over and handed them all a sealed lancet and a one inch square piece of gauze. 

“What, no alcohol wipe?” Mack muttered sarcastically as he opened his lancet. 

“The smell of rubbing alcohol affects the smell of the blood,” Dr. Kurian said matter-of-factly, clearly having overhead Mack. 

They all pricked a finger with the lancet and soaked up the resultant drop of blood with the gauze. The tech had them drop their used lancets in a plastic container, and then Dr. Kurian walked up to Charlie and took the gauze from him first. 

Holding the gauze under his nose he inhaled deeply and said, “Alpha, blood type B negative, clean. Regular rates apply.” Warren was next to Charlie and she handed over her gauze next. “Alpha, blood type O positive, clean. Regular rates apply.” Mack was next. “Beta, AB negative! Very nice!” Dr. Kurian said excitedly. He inhaled again as if he was scenting a fine bouquet of wine. “Very nice indeed. We’ve actually never had an AB negative before, they’re so rare. Triple rates for your blood. If you think you can spare two pints, I’ll make it four times the normal rate for each pint.” Dr. Kurian then actually put the tip of his tongue to the gauze to taste it. “Mmmm.” At their looks he said, “All blood types taste different. AB is singularly unique and hard to come by. Few have ever tasted it. There will be many clamoring for a taste of your blood,” he said, smiling at Mack, who looked decidedly uncomfortable. He stepped over to Addy next, scented her blood, and the smile left his face. “Beta, type O positive, clean but boring. Regular rates apply.” 

“Well excuse me for having boring blood next to your fine, exotic vintage,” Addy whispered to Mack, but of course Dr. Kurian overheard her and gave her a sour look. 

He went to Doc next, and after inhaling the gauze, the corners of his mouth twitched. “Beta, A negative, clean with smoky hints of weed. Some of our customers enjoy that bit of buzz they get from drinking blood saturated with marijuana. Double rates apply for your blood.” 

The others looked at Doc in surprise. 

“I always knew weed was good for you,” he said, smiling. 

Cassandra was next, but as soon as Dr. Kurian scented her blood he immediately pulled the gauze away from his nose and made a face like he had smelled something nasty. “Let me guess,” he said, looking a bit hostile, “you’ve resorted to cannibalism at some point in your life.” 

Cassandra blushed bright red. She hated being reminded of that low point in her life. 

“I know this,” he continued, “because when a human eats the flesh of a vampire, or another human for that matter, it taints the blood and gives it a bitter taste, and unfortunately that never goes away. Your blood is unacceptable. No credits for you, my dear,” he said condescendingly, as Cassandra looked down at her shoes, humiliated and too embarrassed to look at anyone. 

“Was that necessary?” 10K asked as the doctor stepped in front of him. 

“I’m only telling it like it is,” he said shrugging, ignoring 10K’s thunderous expression. But then this expression changed, replaced by a look of shock when he scented 10K’s blood. 

“A male omega!” he said, clearly astounded. “I’ve heard of them but never actually met one. They’re incredibly rare,” he said, looking 10K up and down like someone examining a prize heifer. He scented the gauze again, this time with his eyes closed. “Blood type B negative, clean, sweet notes like an omega but with a crisp under-note of male testosterone, creating a unique, well balanced, highly-unique blend. He touched the tip of his tongue to the gauze and then seemed to savor the flavor. “And, still a virgin,” he said, matter-of-factly, opening his eyes and looking at a stunned and highly embarrassed 10K. 

“You can actually tell that?” Addy asked. 

“Oh, yes. Virgin blood has a cleaner, purer taste. Think of it like the difference between tap water and bottled water. They’re both water, both are fine to drink, but one tastes cleaner, purer. That’s why many vampires prefer the taste of children and babies. Not that any of us here in Harmony drink the blood of children and babies,” Dr. Kurian added quickly. “I mean I’ve heard tell that some uncouth vampires outside of Harmony are partial to them.” 

Once again Dr. Kurian touched the tip of his tongue to the gauze to taste the blood. “Your blood is so good,” he said, practically moaning, which had 10K turning even redder than he already was. Looking at the rest of the group Dr. Kurian said, “Would you be willing to sell us your omega? We would pay you top dollar and take good care of him, keep him fed and watered, and just take blood from him on occasion for some of our more discerning clients. There are a couple of vampires in this town who are aficionados of rare blood who would pay dearly for a steady stream of this boy’s blood.” 

They all looked stunned for a second, clearly not expecting this, and then they all erupted with emphatic no’s. All except Murphy, that is. “How much would you give us for him?” he asked curiously, giving 10K a big smile. 

“10K is not for sale,” Charlie said, giving Murphy a disgusted look. “If you want to purchase a pint of his blood, fine, but a pint is all you’re getting.” 

“Fine, fine,” Dr. Kurian said, holding up his hands and looking dejected. “I just asked. You’d be surprised what some people are willing to give up for food and supplies these days. Quadruple rate for a pint of the boy’s blood. All right,” he said, rubbing his hands together, “let’s get started. Everyone except you two,” he said, pointing at Cassandra and Murphy, “take a seat and we’ll get you hooked up.” 

They all sat in one of the plush red vinyl chairs. The backs actually lowered so that everyone could recline and relax while their blood was being taken. The two techs in white coats immediately rushed forward to get them hooked up to blood bags. 

Murphy had been watching the whole process with interest, so he had noticed that Dr. Kurian had tucked the gauze with 10K’s blood in his pocket and disposed of the rest right before disappearing behind a curtain that made up the back wall. He looked over at Cassandra and saw that she had noticed it as well. He had made an attempt to use his new powers to read the doctor’s mind but simply couldn’t get in. Made sense though. If vampires could read each other’s thoughts, they’d end up killing each other over every negative thought. 

Murphy’s attention turned back to watching with fascination as the bags quickly filled with blood, and he found that his mouth was suddenly flooded with saliva and felt his fangs descend despite trying to hold them back. 

Dr. Kurian ran up a flight of stairs and down a hallway to a door that led to an area of the factory that had been converted into a large private suite. He tapped on the door before opening it. “Boss?” he said, sticking his head in. 

“What is it?” an alpha around the age of 32 with shoulder-length hair in golden waves and clear blues eyes said with annoyance after pulling his fangs out of the young girl draped across his lap. 

“Sir, I’m sorry to interrupt your meal, but we have another group of outsiders—eight in total. Well, six actually. Two are undesirable.” 

“Anything of note?” Peter asked, leaning his head back against the chair and looking bored. 

“Yes, sir, it’s an interesting mix. They’re all physically attractive for the most part. There’s one AB negative among them.” 

“An AB negative! That is excellent news!” Peter said, looking interested now. “Mayor Krammer has a taste for unusual blood types and will be pleased. She was less than impressed with our selection during her last visit. Anything else?” 

“Yes, sir. There’s a healthy young male omega among them.” 

“Peter sat up straight now. A _male_ omega you say? You’re sure?” 

“Yes, sir. I have the sample of the boy’s blood right here,” he said, approaching and holding out the small piece of gauze he extracted from his pocket. 

Peter took the gauze and held it under his nose, breathing deeply. His fangs, which had retracted during the interruption, immediately dropped back down and he felt his body stir with interest. Standing quickly, the girl, who had been draped across his lap, fell to the floor, and she scrambled quickly out of his way. “Is he of breeding age?” Peter asked. 

“He looks to be around 18, sir.” 

“Excellent,” Peter said approvingly. 

“So, I take it you want us to keep this group?” Dr. Kurian asked, waiting for confirmation.

“Absolutely. Round them up and cage them. Some of our current livestock are looking a bit peaked, so with this new group perhaps we can rotate a few of them out so they can recuperate a few days before putting them back on the menu. We want to maintain the reputation we have among our kind for offering only the finest selection of blood on the market. Oh, and send the bag of blood you extract from the AB negative over to the mayor’s office with my compliments. We want to stay in her good graces.” 

“Yes, sir. This group does look the type to put up a fight,” Dr. Kurian added. 

“Really? Well this new group gets more intriguing by the minute.”

“Should we use the cattle prods to get them into line?” 

“No, I don’t want to risk this group getting damaged. I’d like them cleaned up and market ready by tomorrow, and people don’t like it when their food looks bruised and damaged. And I especially don’t want to risk the omega or the AB negative getting hurt. Use the drug instead. It’ll be out of their system by tomorrow.” 

“Yes, sir,” Dr. Kurian said. 

“I’ll be down later on to take a look at them after they’ve woken up. I’m going to finish my lunch now.” 

“Very good, sir,” Dr. Kurian said, bowing and exiting the room. 

“Now, where did my lunch run off to?” Peter said, looking around. “There you are,” he said, spotting the girl cowering in a corner. Crossing the room quickly he pulled her up roughly by the arm and sank his teeth into her throat without preamble. She cried out at first, but then her cries turned to moans as Peter invaded her mind, flooding it with the pleasure he was experiencing feeding off her. 

Dr. Kurian left the room and headed back down to where he left the group. On the other side of the curtain he could hear that they were just finishing up. He quickly got a container of orange juice out of a small refrigerator and poured some into eight small Dixie cups. He then added a couple of drops to each cup from a small brown bottle on the counter. He put the cups on a tray, added some butter cookies, and went back out, plastering a smile on his face. 

“All done I see! You may be feeling a bit woozy, but I have something to help with that. He then handed each person one of the Dixie cups and a cookie, including Murphy and Cassandra. “Nobody gets left out,” he said, smiling at them. “Eat and drink, and then you can decide what you want to spend your credits on.” 

“Real orange juice! I can’t remember when I had orange juice last,” Doc said, quickly draining the cup. “I can actually feel the vitamin C soaking into my body,” he added, before taking a bite of his cookie. 

“Sugar,” Addy moaned as she drank her juice and bit into her cookie. “I’ve missed sugar so much.” 

They all made quick work of their juice and cookie. Murphy finished his cookie and was looking around at everyone else. “You gonna eat that?” he asked 10K, eyeing his uneaten cookie. 10K shoved the whole thing in his mouth and chewed it while looking at him defiantly. 

“Selfish little bastard,” he said in a huff. 

“All right,” Charlie said, starting to stand up, “let’s go do some shopping. We’ll use half the credits for gas and the other half for food. Woah,” he said, sitting back down, his head spinning. 

“You okay?” Warren asked, from the chair next to him. 

“Just a little dizzy. I need another minute. You can go on ahead and see what they have. I know how women like to shop.” 

“Let me get you another cup of that juice first,” she said. “Hey, Dr. Kurian?” she said, standing up. “Can he have another cup of that juice?” she asked, just before her head started spinning and she sat back down hard. 

Looking around, she saw that everyone looked unsteady. Cassandra collapsed unconscious to the ground first. 10K went over to help her, but ended up collapsing on top of her. “Drugged,” Warren muttered. 

“Yep,” Charlie said, blinking rapidly, trying to keep his eyes open. As he looked around he saw Doc, Mack and Addy on the ground now, and Dr. Kurian standing back at a safe distance watching them. 

“Why would you drug us?” Charlie asked him, his voice slurring. “We gave you our blood.” But before the vampire could answer him, everything went black. 

Doc felt consciousness slowly returning and initially thought it was the slow hazy awakening he usually felt after smoking a joint before turning in. But when he realized he was lying on a cold cement surface, he knew that that wasn’t the case and that something was most definitely wrong. 

He got to his hands and knees and groaned as the hard cement put pressure on his bony knees. Sitting back on his haunches and looking around, he saw that he was in what appeared to be a jail cell with Murphy, who was still unconscious. Grabbing hold of the bars of his cell he pulled himself up and looked around. There were other cells just like his across from him and on either side of him, and they went on for quite a distance. Addy and Mack were in the cell to the right of him, 10K and Cassandra were in the cell to the left of him, and Warren and Garnett appeared to be on the other side of Addy and Mack. There were people in all the cells he could see. Some were sleeping, some were pacing, and some were just sitting on their bunk looking dejected. 

He quickly woke the others up, and when they were all fairly alert he called out to a woman who was pacing in the cell directly across from him. A man was sitting on his cot in the same cell reading a book. “Hey,” Doc called out. “What’s happening here?” 

“First day?” she asked. 

“Yeah. Me and my friends came to town to trade, gave a pint of blood so we could get credits to trade for stuff—“ 

“And then you drank some drugged orange juice and it was lights out,” the woman said. “Yeah, same with me and my husband. Everything looked so legit, but it’s all a front. This town is nothing but a honey trap luring folks in with the promise of food and gas, and once you’re here you don’t leave.” 

“So what do they do with all these people?” Warren asked from her cell. 

“They use us to feed off of. Vampires come through here all the time and look us over like we’re choice cuts of meat in a butcher shop, and when they make their selection the person is hauled off to a private room and the vampire gets to feed.” 

“Jesus, how could we be so stupid,” Charlie said, slapping the bars. 

“How long have you and your husband been here?” Doc asked, looking at the man sitting on the cot. 

“Oh, this isn’t my husband,” she said. “They switch us around a lot so we’re always with and surrounded by different people. My guess is it’s so we don’t notice when the occasional person goes missing and get upset,” she said grimly. “I suspect I’ve been here about a month. I haven’t seen my husband since they separated us that first day.” 

They heard footsteps approaching and the woman across from him automatically went to the back of her cell, clearly trying not to be noticed. Doc looked down the hallway toward where the sound of the footsteps was coming from and saw Dr. Kurian approaching with another man. They stopped at Warren and Charlie’s cell. 

“Here are the first two,” Dr. Kurian said. “They seem to be the ones in charge of this group.” 

Peter nodded. “Yes, their posture and bearing would suggest military training. Very nice,” he said approvingly. “The man is ruggedly handsome and the woman is quite voluptuous. They will be quite popular.” 

Charlie and Warren exchanged a look and both approached the front of their cage. 

“Listen, if you’re in charge, we need to talk,” Charlie said. “You need to let us out of here.” 

“I don’t speak to the livestock,” Peter said dismissively, going to the next cell, which contained Addy and Mack. 

“The male here is the AB negative,” Dr. Kurian said excitedly, and Peter nodded his head approvingly. 

“He’s young, attractive. If we’re careful and make sure he’s not overused, we can profit off this one for several years,” Peter said. “The woman’s attractive as well. She has a classic European look about her. In fact,” he said, looking her over critically, “with those hips she might make an excellent breeder.” 

Addy looked shocked at that, and Mack actually growled and stepped in front of her. 

“You probably should make sure she’s not already pregnant with this one’s spawn first…although, come to think of it, if she is with child, the child may be another AB negative,” he said thoughtfully. “Have her tested. It could be a win either way,” he said. You’re right, Dr. Kurian, this is an exceptional bunch,” he said walking to the next cage. But then he froze, looking like he was in shock. He had reached Doc and Murphy’s cage, but it wasn’t Murphy who drew his attention, it was Doc. He stared at him for a long time, and Doc stared back, frowning as if he knew the man from somewhere but couldn’t quite place him. 

“Hello, father,” Peter said at last, and Doc’s eyes widened in shock. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bet you didn’t see that coming! In S1’s “Full Metal Zombie" Doc said, “You know, I got a kid out there somewhere. I never told anybody that before. I had him when I was 19.” And in S3 “Doc’s Angels” Doc revealed, “I was a bass player in a Pink Floyd cover band. Of course that was way back before disco killed life as I knew it,” which will have a mention in the next chapter.


	12. Chapter 12

“Hello, father,” Peter said at last, and Doc’s eyes widened in shock. 

“Peter? Son, is that really you?” Doc said, looking pale and like he needed to sit down. 

“Oh, it’s me. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” he said, smiling and showing his fangs. “Clearly I’ve changed a lot since the last time you saw me since you didn’t even recognize me.” 

Warren was looking between the two, and now that she knew Peter was Doc’s son, she saw the resemblance. They both had the same shoulder-length curly hair, although Doc’s was silver and Peter’s was gold. They both had the same blue eyes, although Doc’s twinkled with kindness, whereas Peter’s were cold and calculating. Peter was also broader in the shoulders and chest than Doc, indicating he was probably an alpha. 

“I’m glad to see you survived the apocalypse, son,” Doc said, his voice shaking with emotion. “I’ve thought about you a lot and hoped that you and your mother were all right.” 

“Have you?” Peter said with a slight sneer in his voice. “Thought about me a lot, that is? Because I kind of thought you forgot about me around the time I was seven years old.”

“Son, you know that’s not true. Your mother got offered that job as a partner in that Boston law firm and she wanted to take it. She’s also the one who wanted a divorce because we had simply drifted apart. You were seven years old and I knew you needed your mother, so I didn’t fight her on it. In the beginning I was calling and talking to you on the phone every week, but then your mom started making excuses as to why you couldn’t come to the phone, saying you were studying for a test or at a friend’s house or something. I knew she was seeing that fellow from her firm that she eventually married, so I figured she was trying to get the two of you to bond, so I backed off. I sent you cards every holiday,” he finished a bit lamely. 

“I never got your cards after the first couple, and mom marrying that dipshit from her law firm was the worst thing that ever happened to me. About six months after they got married he convinced her to send me away to a private boarding school in Switzerland. He told her this school produced more successful alphas than any other in the world. I knew he was just trying to get rid of me, but she fell for it because she had developed this fixation with power and success.” 

“I didn’t know that, son, and I’m sorry. I truly am. I should have tried harder. I should have gone out there to see what was going on.” 

“Yes, I suppose you were too busy with your hippie lifestyle and playing in that rock band to worry about your own son. That’s what mother told me anyway,” he said angrily. 

Doc closed his eyes, looking regretful. “Son—“ 

“Never mind, it’s all in the past,” Peter said, waving him off. “And, as it turns out, that overpriced school did teach me how to be a leader. For instance, I run this entire town now, and I plan to expand my little fiefdom one piece at a time. I have a plan in place, you see. It’s inevitable at this point that vampires will take over and become the dominant species on this planet. The thing we need to concentrate on now is preserving our food source,” he said, holding out his arms to indicate all the people in cages, “and to encourage animal husbandry so there will be no food shortage.” 

Doc’s eyes got wide. “You mean you’re trying to get the people you capture to breed like…like cattle?” Doc said incredulously. 

“Not trying. Accomplishing. Dr. Kurian has a little drug he can add to the food that puts people in the proper mood. Then it’s just a matter of turning a healthy alpha onto an omega or beta and letting nature take its course. Speaking of omegas, I understand you have a nice healthy young specimen traveling with you,” he said, stepping over to the next cage and looking 10K over. 

Doc looked utterly broken right now, like he couldn’t believe that this was happening. 

“Oh my, he is a pretty one,” Peter said, looking at his father and nodding with appreciation. “ _‘His eyes were large and guileless—yet simultaneously mysterious. His mouth was sensuous, the essence of all erotic orifices.’_ I don’t remember who said that, but it certainly pertains to this boy. He’s magnificent, father, really. Thank you so much for bringing him to me.” 

“Wait, what are you saying? What are you planning to do with him!” Doc said, looking a bit frantic now. 

“Oh, you care about him, I see. Interesting. Maybe you even consider him like a son, easily replacing the one you clearly forgot about. Hmm. Well what would you think if your old son bred your new son and gave you a grandchild?” he said smiling. 

Everyone in the group looked stunned, including 10K, but none more so than Doc. 

“You can’t be serious,” Doc said. “Peter, please tell me you’re not serious.” 

“He’s just a kid, you sick fuck!” Addy shouted out. 

“He looks to be 18, which means he’s technically an adult.” 

“Why would a vampire want a child from someone they consider no better than cattle?” Warren asked angrily. 

“Ah, now that’s the question, isn’t it?” Peter said. “As it turns out, vampires can’t have children.” 

“What wrong, can’t get it up?” Murphy said, clearly as upset as everyone else. 

“No, there is absolutely no problem in that regard, I can assure you,” Peter said, smiling indulgently at Murphy. “According to Dr. Kurian, our vampire omegas and betas do get pregnant, but then as soon as the fertilized egg starts to grow, the damn virus that keeps us in peak condition identifies the growing embryo as a hostile organism and exterminates it like it would any other invasive cells. If we had the proper facilities we would ideally take fertilized eggs from our own omegas and betas and just implant them into humans to gestate to term, but we don’t have the knowledge or the facilities to do that, so unfortunately if we want to have children and expand our numbers, we’re forced to breed our livestock.” 

“I wouldn’t imagine that every child would be born a vampire,” Charlie said. 

“True. But if they’re not vampires, the baby just grows up here with its human parent until it’s old enough to be put on the menu. It’s my hope that the half-breed vampires born of humans will be able to become pregnant by full vampires and carry their babies full term. But it will take some time to discover if that is true. Anyway, enough talk. I must be going, I have a lot to do. Dr. Kurian here is going to get you cleaned up so that you can be added to tomorrow’s menu. We’ll give you today off since you did give blood. Oh, Dr. Kurian, I believe you said that two of these specimens are undesirable, so perhaps we should dispose of them now rather than waste time and resources on them.” 

“Yes, sir,” Dr. Kurian said. “It would be that one and that one,” he said pointing to Murphy and Cassandra. 

“Pity,” Peter said, looking at Cassandra. “Her exotic look would have been popular as well. Oh, well, can’t win them all. Please see to it,” Peter said, starting to turn away. 

“Wait, please don’t!” 

Peter froze, then turned around and looked at the omega, who had spoken for the first time. An omega in distress was a beautiful thing to behold. “What is it, my sweet?” Peter said, turning back around and walking toward 10K’s cage. 

“Please don’t kill them,” 10K pleaded, blushing with embarrassment. “They’re my friends. They’re your father’s friends! He’s going to be really upset if you do this,” he said, awkwardly. He hated begging, but he didn’t want either one of them to die. And Murphy was still their mission, after all. 

“And what about you, little one. Will it upset you as well?” 

“Yes,” 10K said, not able to meet Peter’s intense eyes. 

“I’ll tell you what,” Peter said. “When I have you brought up to my room, if you agree to cooperate with me and not fight me, I’ll let them live,” he said, glancing over at his father. “Do you understand what it is I’m asking you?” 

“You sick sonofabitch!” Addy shouted, and then all the gang were shouting out their thoughts on Peter’s proposal. 

“Silence!” Peter shouted, holding up his hand, still staring at 10K. “This is between me and the boy. I’m not forcing him to say yes. He has every right to say no. Of course if he does, I will have these two put to death immediately. No use feeding two people who are of absolutely no use to us.” 

“Son, please—“ Doc begged. 

“I said silence! I want the boy to speak, no one else. What is your answer?” 

10K stood there staring at the floor taking shallow breaths. He couldn’t believe this was happening; this couldn’t be happening. 

“Do you agree?” Peter asked softly, reveling in the scent of the omega’s distress. 

10K was physically shaking now, but then he nodded while staring at the floor. He didn’t trust himself to speak right now. 

“Look at me boy and say it out loud. I want all your friends to hear you.” 

“Yes,” 10K said through gritted teeth, looking up at Peter, eyes flashing in anger. 

“Yes what?” Peter pushed. “I don’t want there to be any doubt in anyone’s mind what you’re agreeing to.” 

“Yes, I agree not to fight you when I’m brought to your room,” 10K said, blushing furiously with anger and embarrassment, looking at the floor once again, trying to control his feelings of helplessness and rage. He hated this man. Hated him more than anyone he had met before. How could this man possibly be related to Doc? 

"There, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” Peter said, smiling. “Well, it looks like you two have been given a reprieve, courtesy of your young friend here,” he said to Murphy and Cassandra. “I look forward to seeing _you_ a bit later,” he said to 10K, and then Peter walked away, giving his father one last smug look. 

Cassandra went to 10K and put her arms around him, trying to comfort her fellow omega. He had just saved her life, but at what cost? 

“All right,” Dr. Kurian said, “I’m going to go get some guards to accompany you all to the showers so you can get cleaned up, and I’ll find you some clean clothes. I’ll be back shortly,” he said, walking away as well. 

“Holy shit!” Charlie said, running both hands through his hair. “Holy shit!” 

“You got that right,” Warren said. “Doc? Doc, are you all right?” she said, noting Doc’s demeanor. 

Doc was sitting on the cot now, elbows on his knees and hands gripping his hair, looking at the floor, and he suddenly looked ten years older. “He hates me. My own son hates me. How could I let this happen?” 

“Doc…” Warren started, but she wasn’t really sure what to say. “Do you want to talk about it?” she settled for. “I know you mentioned you had a son, but you never really talked about him.” 

“I met his mom my freshman year in college at a peace rally...”

“There’s a surprise,” Murphy said. 

“Shhhh!” Addy said, glaring at him to keep quiet. 

“We hit it off right away. I was studying to be a clinical psychologist so I could help people, and she was studying law and planned to fight for the rights of whales and battered women and the environment and any other righteous cause. We were both young and idealistic and seemed to have so much in common. We fell in love, and then she ended up pregnant. We were only 18 but we decided to get married. When Peter was born we were both so happy. But after we graduated college and Peter was a bit older, her ideals changed. You see, she grew up poor, so all of a sudden Peter had to have the best of everything, and working for non-profit organizations and fighting for the environment wasn’t cutting it. She got a job with some big-time law outfit and started making big money. We just started drifting apart until one day it seemed like we were two strangers living together. When Peter was seven she told me she’d been offered a job at one of the top law firms in Boston and she wanted to take it. She also told me that she wanted a divorce. I knew that things hadn’t been working out between us for a while, so I didn’t fight her on it. And a boy needs his mother, so I didn’t fight her on that either. Deep down I knew it wouldn’t do any good anyway because she was a successful lawyer and she made more money than me. 

“After they moved away I called Peter every week and spoke to him and asked him about school and everything. About three months after they moved Peter told me his mom was dating some guy from her law firm; then a couple months after that his mom told me she was getting married again. That’s when the problems started. I would call every week as usual, but she would tell me that Peter was over at a friend’s house or that he was studying for a test and couldn’t come to the phone. This was before cell phones were invented. After this happened a few times I figured maybe she was trying to keep us apart to give Peter a better chance to bond with the fiancé, so I decided to cool it for a while and give them a chance.” Doc sighed then, shaking his head. “It was around that time that this band I played bass for on and off was offered a spot as a cover band for Pink Floyd. I can’t tell you how exciting that was. I mean, Pink Floyd was at the peak of their career at that time and we were playing before huge crowds. I’m not proud to say I got caught up in the rock and roll lifestyle for a while. I was staying up all night and partying hard and smoking weed and doing the occasional recreational drug, and there was no shortage of women who came to these concerts throwing themselves at us. I kind of put my son on the back burner and forgot about him for a while. When disco came along and ruined everything, that part of my life was over and I tried to settle back into a regular 9 to 5 job, but I realized I had developed a drug problem. After two years of rehab and meetings I got clean and took a job counseling at a local college. I tried to reconnect with Peter at that point, but their number had been disconnected. I tried sending him a letter, but it came back ‘Moved-no forwarding address.’ I called that Boston firm his mother worked for and found out she had divorced husband number two and moved to Paris. I had also gotten married to wife number two by then and I’m ashamed to say that with a new job and new wife, I just sort of closed the book on that chapter of my life and moved on,” he said, wiping tears off his face. “He was my son. I should have looked for him, but the job and wife number two were taking up my time and it was easier not to. He has every right to hate me,” he said, breaking down and crying now. 

“Jesus,” Addy said, looking at Warren. “Life is such a sadistic bitch. What are the odds that these two would ever even run into each other again as big as this country is and with an apocalypse going on? Yet here they are.” 

“Doc, family is never easy,” Warren said. “Maybe if you can get him to sit down with you and talk it out, you can explain things to him and he won’t be so bitter.”

“Uh, were we not looking at the same vampire?” Murphy asked, “because I don’t think there’s any reasoning with that power-hungry blood sucker.” 

Warren looked over at 10K and was just about to ask him how he was doing next after what he did to save Murphy and Cassandra, but they were interrupted by Dr. Kurian returning with six alphas, all with cattle prods. 

“All right, now, we’re going to take you all to the showers so you can get cleaned up,” Dr. Kurian said. “We’ve also found you some clean clothes to change into. But if any of you give us any trouble, you’ll find out what 4,000 volts feels like.” 

As they made the long walk to the showers, they lost count of how many people they passed in cages. Some looked to be in despair, and some looked pale and sickly. Then they passed a new set of cages. These were actually rooms with large glass inserts. There was a woman in each room, most of them clearly pregnant. 

“These are our current breeders,” Dr. Kurian said. 

They passed one room and a woman started beating on the glass as soon as she spotted Dr. Kurian. She was an attractive robust blond, but right now her face was red and twisted with rage. “Where’s my baby!” she screamed. “Give me back my baby!” 

“Ah, this is Serena, one of our prize breeders. She gets pregnant at the drop of a hat. She gave birth a few days ago, so we’ll have to wait a couple months before we impregnate her again.” 

“Where’s her baby?” Cassandra asked. 

“It was a vampire and has been given to its biological father and his mate.” 

“So when the babies are born you just take them away from their mothers?” she asked. 

“If they’re vampires they go to live with their vampire parent. They’re going to a better place, trust me.” 

As they passed another of these rooms they all froze in horror as they saw a vampire with his teeth sunk into a woman’s breast, sucking away. 

“Oh, I didn’t realize he was in there,” Dr. Kurian said. 

“What’s he doing?” Murphy asked. 

“Some vampires have developed a taste for breast milk mixed with blood, and once the baby is taken away from its mother the breast milk needs to be drained anyway to prevent mastitis, so this is a unique opportunity for vampires to enjoy this rare treat. Let’s move on and give them some privacy, shall we? 

“And what’s this?” Charlie asked, looking in another large room with a glass insert, but this one contained people strapped down to tables attached to blood bags. 

“Oh, them. There are always troublemakers in any group. The people in here have been given second and third chances and still caused us nothing but trouble, so we’re draining them. I certainly hope none of you ends up in this room,” he added as a warning. 

“And here is the shower room. There are towels off to the side there, and piles of clothes. You’ll be given ten minutes.” 

Looking around it was a single open room with shower heads all around. 

“Wait, we’re all supposed to shower together,” Roberta said in shock. 

“I’m sorry, were you all expecting a deluxe suite with individual bathrooms?” Dr. Kurian said sarcastically. “Yes, livestock shower together. And if any of you come out unshowered and not wearing fresh clothes, I’ll have some of the fellas here help you with your shower. Remember, ten minutes, so no messing around in there.” 

“All right,” Warren said as they looked around the room, let’s not make this awkward. Everyone just face the wall where their shower head is, and no looking around or peeking.” Murphy gave a mental sigh of relief as this would prevent anyone from seeing his lack of scars. 

Ten minutes later they left the shower all clean and wearing fresh clothes. 

“If I wasn’t so terrified at the moment, it would feel good to actually be clean,” Addy said. 

Dr. Kurian started placing them one by one in separate cells, spaced out so they couldn’t even see each other. Murphy was the first one placed in one of the front cells with another man who was lying on his cot looking pale. Then the others were placed intermittently until only 10K was left. 

“I’ve been instructed to take you up to Peter’s room straight away, young man,” Dr. Kurian said. 

“What, already?” 10K said, feeling panicked. He hadn’t expected this so soon. 

With Dr. Kurian’s hand on his arm, 10K was pulled back down the aisle so that everyone in his group saw him and knew what was happening, which was probably Peter’s idea. 10K heard his group calling out, clearly outraged, but he was in shock and couldn’t really make out what they were saying. 

10K passed Murphy’s cell last, and as their eyes connected Murphy saw 10K’s panic and thought he looked like a frightened little boy. His heart ached for the kid and he was suddenly filled with rage. 

As 10K was taken away, Murphy grabbed hold of the bars of the door of his cage and rattled it fiercely. He was hoping the vaccine had given him some of that vampire strength. But the bars and the lock were both heavy iron. 10K needed help, and in desperation Murphy closed his eyes and sent his mind out toward 10K. He now knew he had that ability to enter someone’s mind, but he hadn’t really practiced and he didn’t know what his limitations were. He did suspect he had entered 10K’s mind that one night when 10K was dreaming, so apparently he didn’t need to be touching the person. He was surprised when he actually found 10K’s mind and pushed at it to enter, but felt 10K jerk with surprise and try to put up a mental wall to block him out. 

_“10K, it’s me, Murphy,”_ he thought, and felt the wall dissolve.

 _“Murphy? What the hell? How are you inside my head?”_

_“As it turns out, there have been a few side effects from that vaccine that I’ve been recently discovering, and apparently this is one of them.”_

After a few seconds of silence 10K thought, _“Okay, but why are you in my head now?_

_“I haven’t totally got that worked out yet, but I’m hoping I can maybe help you.”_

_“How?”_

_“When you’re with Peter, at some point he’s going to get in your head to try and control you. I’m thinking if I kind of lie in wait quietly in the back of your mind and maybe surprise him, it’ll give you an advantage. I’m just kind of winging it right now. I don’t even know if I’ll be able to stay inside your head as you move further away from me. This is all new to me.”_

As they reached Peter’s room, Dr. Kurian pushed 10K inside the room. “Peter will be with you shortly,” he said grinning, then shut and locked the door from the outside. 

10K stood there, dazed, looking around. Peter’s living space was all open space with polished oak flooring, high ceilings, wooden beams, and lots of windows to let in the light. It was lavishly decorated with plush sofas and chairs, Persian rugs, and expensive artwork on the walls. There was a living room area to the left, a small kitchen area in the middle, and a sleeping area with king-sized bed off to the right. 10K might have appreciated the décor if he wasn’t so freaked out at the moment. _“Murphy!”_ he thought feeling panic setting in and not wanting to be alone. 

_“I’m still here, kid,”_ Murphy replied, and he felt relief flood through the boy’s mind. _“Okay, see, this is good_. _This will give us some time to come up with a plan and for you to find a weapon.”_

 _“I don’t need to find a weapon. I’ve still got that knife in my boot, remember?”_ he thought, drawing it out of his boot. _“Doc’s son or not, I’m going to end that creep if he so much as lays a finger on me.”_

_“No, that’s not gonna work! You can’t go at him straight on. He’s stronger than you, and if he disarms you, you’ve lost your advantage. You have to attack at a point when he’s distracted and least suspecting it.”_

_“And when would that be exactly?”_

_“Uh, that would most likely be at the point when he’s thinking he’s just about to get some.”_

10K blushed, even though Murphy was only in his head. _“Okay, so let’s hear this brilliant plan of yours.”_

_“You hide that knife under a pillow and wait until he gets you on the bed. He’ll probably be inside your head at that point, and I will know because I’m also inside your head lying in wait. When he’s concentrating on nothing but tapping that sweet ass of yours, I’ll say ’10K, NOW,’ and that will break his concentration and free your mind from his control, and then you’ll reach under the pillow and grab the knife and plunge it right through his eye.”_

_“I can see a lot of things that can go wrong with that,”_ 10K said dubiously. 

But any more discussion was cut short just then as 10K heard the key giggling in the lock. _“Put the knife under the pillow--NOW!!”_ Murphy thought anxiously.

10K was torn. He wanted to go straight at Peter and surprise him walking through the door, but what if Murphy was right and Peter was able to easily disarm him. _“Damn it!”_ he thought, running to the bed and putting the knife under a pillow. 

_“When Peter gets in your head, just try your best to blank out your mind, not think about me. It’s hard, I know, but just try your best.”_

Peter walked through the door then and 10K stood there looking tense and awkward. There had to be a better plan than what Murphy had come up with; there just had to be. 

“What a welcome sight you are,” Peter said, smiling and rubbing his hands together. “Shall we begin?” 

“What? You mean right now, just like that?” 10K said, looking stunned, his heart threatening to beat its way out of his chest. 

“Did you think that I was going to wine and dine you first? That we would sit down and get to know each other?” Peter said laughing. “You’re an ends to a means, that’s all, despite the attractive packaging. Now, please remove your shirt.”

 _“Murphy!?”_ he thought, close to panicking. 

_“Easy kid, just do what he says. The sooner he gets you on the bed, the sooner you can get the knife and put it through his arrogant temple. I’m actually looking forward to that. I can’t believe this guy is related to Doc.”_

“You did agree to cooperate with me if I spared the lives of your two friends,” Peter reminded him, misinterpreting 10K’s hesitation. “You’re not going to go back on your word now are you? Because if that is the case, I can have the little female brought up here and you can watch her die.” 

“No. No, I’ll keep my word,” 10K said, swallowing thickly as his mouth suddenly felt bone dry. He pulled his shirt off over his head and tossed it aside, resisting the urge to cover himself. He stood still, trying to control his trembling as Peter circled him slowly like a shark. 

“Beautiful skin. You would have made a stunning vampire,” Peter said, running a finger along 10K’s back and shoulders as he circled him, causing 10K to shiver and break out in goosebumps. “Pity that you’re only human. Oh well. “Now the pants,” Peter said casually. 

10K shivered again and felt his fear spike. He actually heard Murphy growl in his head at this, which gave him a little courage. Despite the embarrassing and terrifying circumstances, it was nice to feel like he wasn’t totally alone in this. 

10K kicked off his boots and slowly undid his pants, then let them drop to the floor. His face felt like it was on fire. He put his thumbs under the band of his shorts, but couldn’t bring himself to remove them. He was visibly shaking now at the thought of what this man was going to do to him once he was naked. He didn’t want his first time to be like this. 

_“Courage, 10K,”_ Murphy thought. _“If the plan works, it’s not gonna happen. Just remember the plan."_ Being inside 10K’s head meant that Murphy could feel everything 10K was feeling, and back in his cell his own hands were trembling and his heart was racing as fear coursed through his own body. But he had to remain calm for 10K. The plan had to work. If 10K failed, not only would Peter rape 10K, but he would come for him and Cassandra and kill them. 

10K closed his eyes and lowered his shorts, letting them pool on the ground with his pants, and he did cover himself now. He stepped out of his pants and shorts and stood there. 

Peter smiled. “Now, I want you to kiss me,” he said, standing toe to toe with 10K. “Kiss me like your friends’ lives depend on it.” 

Panic flared in 10K’s eyes for a moment, but then he leaned forward, making sure no part of their bodies touched, and pressed a clumsy kiss on Peter’s lips before leaning back with a nervous look.

”Pathetic,” Peter said, giving him a condescending look. “I should kill both your friends for that lackluster performance alone.” 

”I’m sorry,” 10K said quickly. ”I don’t really have a lot of experience with kissing.”

“In that case, I forgive you,” Peter said, pleased at 10K’s lack of experience. “I suppose I should show you how it’s done then,” he said, smiling that cold smile of his, placing a hand on 10K’s chest and pushing him backward until his back connected with the wall. 

“What are you doing?” 10K asked nervously. 

Without answering, Peter pressed up against him and then kissed him. The kiss was firm, demanding. 10K automatically clamped his lips together while grasping Peter’s shoulders with shaking hands, wanting to push him away but knowing that he couldn’t. Peter persisted, the kiss becoming harder, more demanding, almost painful, but still 10K kept his lips pressed together, making small sounds of distress. Peter brought his hand up, found a nipple and tweaked it hard, and with 10K’s gasp of pain, Peter took advantage, deepening the kiss and slipping his tongue into the boy’s mouth. Peter pushed his knees between 10K’s legs, spreading them apart so that he could press himself more fully against him and so that 10K could clearly feel the effect he was already having on the older man. 10K felt an overwhelming sense of panic as he felt the outline of Peter’s cock pressed against him, and he started pushing at Peter’s shoulders to get him off him. 

“Oh, there’s no going back now,” Peter said, grabbing 10K’s wrists and pinning them to the wall above his head, holding them there firmly as he started to rock his hips, grinding their groins together as he licked and sucked at 10K’s neck without breaking the skin. 

A strangled moan slipped out of 10K’s mouth. He couldn’t help it. The friction from Peter’s clothed arousal rubbing against him and the heady smell of the musk the alpha was releasing was turning him on, and he felt sickened by his body’s own betrayal. 

Peter suddenly released his wrists and stepped back. 10K glanced up nervously at Peter and saw that the man’s eyes looked almost black and that his fangs were clearly on display. 10K shivered and pressed back against the wall in fear. 

Murphy could hear 10K’s fight or flight instinct trying to take over. _“Easy, kid. We’re almost there. Stick to the plan.”_

Peter’s eyes were black flame and 10K could actually feel his eyes burning into his flesh. “Beautiful,” Peter said appreciatively, enjoying the enticing blush that was covering 10K’s entire body. “Now, go get on the bed,” he said, in a voice that was thick with lust. 

10K was practically hyperventilating. He wanted to fight, run, do something! Anything but get on that bed. 

_“Just get on the bed on your hands and knees and slip your hand under the pillow and grab hold of the knife. We’ll have to play it by ear from this point on, so just be ready,”_ Murphy said. 

10K climbed on the bed and did as Murphy said, but he hated feeling so vulnerable. 

Peter walked over to the bed and said, “No, I want you on your back.” 

Murphy felt 10K’s panic spike again and tried to calm him. _“It’s okay! Just lay on your back, and when he crawls on top of you, slip your hand up behind you under the pillow. This is better because you’re facing him and you won’t have to twist around to stab him.”_

Trying to remain calm, 10K turned over and lay on his back, his hands fisted by his sides as he waited to see what Peter would do now. 

Peter started disrobing then, and he did it slowly and sensually, touching himself a lot. It was clear that he enjoyed his own body. 10K tried not to watch, but Peter made such a show of it that it was hard not to. Even Murphy seemed interested in watching the show. Peter slowly unbuttoned his shirt before removing it, then slowly stroked his torso, circling his nipples with his thumbs. He undid his pants next, then turned around and lowed them by bending at the waist, giving 10K a nice view of his very toned ass. Apparently he didn’t wear underwear. He turned around then and gave 10K a heated stare as he wrapped his hand around his cock and gave it several slow pumps. 10K felt another moment of panic when he saw its size. It wasn’t as big as Murphy’s, but it was still large and he didn’t want it anywhere near any part of him. 

_“So, you thought my cock was big, did you?”_ Murphy thought. 

_“Really, Murphy?!”_ 10K thought angrily. 

_“Sorry, sorry. I’m just really nervous right now.”_

_“Well join the club!”_ 10K thought, looking away from Peter and up at the ceiling, trying to remain calm. 

Peter sauntered toward the bed and climbed on, and 10K had to resist the urge to slip off the other side. Peter straddled him and inspected his prize with a pleased look. 

“I’m going to breed you every day until I’m sure my seed has taken. I can’t wait to see the look on my father’s face when your stomach starts swelling with my child,” Peter said. 

“Is that what this is about?” 10K said angrily. “You’re going to rape me just so you can get back at your father!” 

“Not just,” Peter said, unaffected by 10K’s anger. “I would have chosen you to carry my child even if my father wasn’t here. You truly are exceptional,” he said, running his hands over 10K’s chest and causing him to shiver and break out in goose flesh again. 

“Fine, then let’s just get this over with,” 10K said, becoming more nervous by the second and just praying that Murphy’s plan worked. 

“As you wish,” Peter said, lowering his body onto 10K’s and kissing his mouth; then his neck, which had 10K tensing. Peter slid down his body to kiss, lick and suckle his nipples. 10K gasped and stiffened, clearly unprepared for the unexpected sensation. No one had ever done this to him before, and Peter’s hot mouth and tongue were sending jolts of arousal straight to his core and he had to force himself to try and remain still. _“Jesus,”_ he thought, and back in his cell Murphy felt his own knees getting weak as he experienced 10K’s first introduction to foreplay. 

10K decided that he didn’t want to wait until Peter was in his head, that Peter was preoccupied with his nipples and in perfect position for striking, so he reached under his pillow and grabbed hold of the knife. Murphy was remaining quiet so he hoped that meant that he agreed. 

Murphy was having a hard time concentrating. When he heard 10K decide to strike now, he thought maybe it was for the best. He stayed quiet so he wouldn’t distract him. But as 10K wrapped his hand around the knife and was preparing to strike, Peter unexpectedly slid lower down 10K’s body, and the moment was lost. Murphy knew what Peter was planning and he knew they were in trouble, and he was right. Peter latched onto 10K’s small omega cock and started sucking it while running his hands all over the kid’s body. 

“Fuck!” 10K cried out, nearly coming off the bed, and Murphy could feel 10K’s excitement growing, and back in his cell Murphy took one hand off the bars he was holding and started pushing at the front of his pants, trying to relieve the growing pressure. 

When 10K was close to finding his release, Peter freed him from his mouth and slid back up his body, looking at his face. 10K was flushed and his eyes were dilated and heavy-lidded; his lips were parted and his breath was coming out in little pants. He was also moving restlessly now as his young body craved more. 

Peter smiled. “I think you’re ready. You have no idea how beautifully fuckable you look right now,” he said, widening 10K’s knees and pushing them up. “I’m honored to be your first, and I’m going to enjoy taking your innocence very much.” 

_“Get ready, kid,”_ Murphy thought, having a hard time focusing at this point, and he was glad when he felt 10K tighten his hand on the knife handle. 

“I don’t think I can do this,” 10K said in a rush, and Murphy didn’t know if he was speaking to Peter or to him. 

Peter lined himself up and looked down at 10K and smiled, showing his fangs. Murphy felt Peter start to push in and yelled _“NOW! DO IT NOW!!”_ But just then Peter entered 10K’s mind and 10K faltered, confused at the new set of thoughts in his head. _“DO IT! DO IT NOW!!”_ Murphy repeated, also fighting the confusion, and 10K brought the knife out and drove it toward Peter’s temple. But the delay had given Peter enough time to read their intent, and Peter caught his wrist easily and twisted it until the pain had 10K crying out and dropping the knife, where it clattered uselessly onto the wooden floor. 

_“Well, well, I must say that this is a surprise,”_ Peter thought, feeling intrigued. _“I have to admit that I am impressed. I didn’t know that anyone could enter someone's mind from a distance. Who’s in here anyway?”_

It didn’t matter that 10K and Murphy didn’t want to answer Peter, you can’t really turn off your thoughts. When someone asks you a question, your brain automatically provides the answer. So Peter got his answer irregardless. 

_“But I thought you were human?”_ Peter thought frowning, listening as the answers came unbidden by both. _“Oh, so you were given an experimental vaccine, and if a vampire bites you, they turn human? Interesting. And you have inherited some vampire traits as well. Very interesting. It would appear that some of those traits are enhanced since even I can’t enter someone’s mind without touching them. Well, since you are already in this boy’s mind, why don’t I give you a special treat…Murphy, is it? I’m going to not only let you experience what it feels like to take this boy’s virginity, since I can read in your mind that you like him, but also what it feels like to fuck and feed as a full-fledged vampire."_

 _“No!”_ Murphy thought with horror, trying to pull out of 10K’s mind now, feeling a bit like a coward but not wanting to watch or experience this. 

_“Oh, I’m sorry, Murphy, but did you really think you could leave?”_ Peter thought. _"Since you’re in this boy’s mind and I’m controlling him, I’m controlling you as well, so you can’t leave until I release you. So enjoy the show.”_

 _“Oh god…!”_ Murphy thought, as he was being bombarded with 10K’s feelings of despair at having the plan fail while the kid desperately tried to erect a mental wall to push Peter out of his head while simultaneously struggling physically to escape him as well. 

Murphy could feel Peter growing more excited by 10K’s struggles and the thrill of imminent conquest. Peter was also getting turned on by the added titillation of having an unwilling voyeur. Murphy had unwittingly made this even more exciting to him. 

10K had felt Murphy’s panic as he tried to leave his mind, but knew Peter was somehow preventing it. 10K tried with all his might to push Peter out of his head so Murphy could leave, even as he struggled physically to try and push Peter off him, thinking he could still go for the knife. But abruptly the wall he tried so hard to erect to block Peter’s mind dissolved like smoke, and 10K’s mind was suddenly overtaken with thoughts that weren’t his own. 10K had felt desire before, had felt lust, but it was child’s play compared to what he was feeling now. Peter’s excitement was on a whole nother level as the vampire was beyond excited by the fact he was about to not only fuck and feed on a virgin, but essentially force someone else to watch while he did it, and they were both powerless to stop him. 

Despite the desire overtaking his mind, 10K shook his head, whimpering, “No, please don’t, I’m not ready,” at the first thick press inside.

Murphy started cursing Peter out, calling him every foul name he could think of, hoping that the man would get annoyed with him and eject him from 10K’s mind, but he read Peter’s intent just a second before it happened, and Murphy yelled _“NO!,”_ as Peter pushed in all the way to the hilt, ruthlessly breaching 10K for the first time. 

10K screamed, and back in his cell Murphy made a guttural scream as he fell to his knees, his back arched as pain tore through him from his very core, even as his body was flooded with Peter’s feelings of heated desire. How was it possible to feel so much pain and so much pleasure at the same time? 

Things went quiet for a second as Peter simply looked down at 10K, stroking his hair while tears leaked from the boy’s eyes. 10K was sobbing and writhing in discomfort at the abrupt breach, trying to adjust to the pain even while struggling to process the conflicting feeling of pleasure being fed to him from Peter. Peter inhaled deeply, appreciating the scent of 10K’s distress, and Murphy could actually smell the heady scent himself back in his cell. 

_“That was your fault, Murphy. I didn't want to hurt the boy, but it was the only way I could think of to silence your little tirade,”_ Peter thought, taking vindictive pleasure in Murphy's feelings of guilt. _“Look at him, Murphy, pinned beneath us for our pleasure, his body and blood ours for the taking.”_ Murphy noticed that Peter was speaking as if the two of them were in this together, and he couldn’t deny that he was sweating and shaking, pummeled with the force of Peter’s desire as he looked at 10K through Peter’s eyes. The way 10K was struggling and making sounds like a wounded animal had Murphy’s inner predator coming to the foreground. Murphy couldn't deny that his newly developing bloodsucking predator self was trying to break free from his civilized human self and devour the struggling boy pinned beneath him. Wait, no, not beneath him, beneath Peter. Murphy's mind was getting confused with all the different thoughts and feelings swirling around in his head. Reality didn't follow the same rules when you're trapped in someone else's head with two other consciousnesses. His feelings and emotions were so jumbled together with the others right now that he didn't know which feelings were his, which were 10K's, and which were Peter's. 

_“Murphy,”_ 10K moaned, trying to use Murphy as an anchor as he dealt with the conflicting feelings of pain and pleasure that were going through his own mind. 

_“Jesus,"_ Murphy groaned. He couldn’t help it; hearing 10K say his name when he felt like he himself was buried to the hilt in the kid made him harder than he could imagine, and he hated himself for it, but he couldn’t stop how his body was reacting. 

_“Feel how hot and tight he is,”_ Peter taunted Murphy. _“It feels like being encased in liquid velvet. We’ve waited long enough. Let’s begin, shall we?”_ Peter pulled out half way and then pushed back in, and Murphy couldn’t help but groan in pleasure at the friction and the pressure slowly starting as Peter set a slow, languid pace. He pulled out a little further each time, and pushed back in slowly, and all three were groaning now. 10K’s fear and resistance seemed to be slipping away, replaced by the pleasured feelings of both men flooding his mind. Murphy was watching 10K's eyes as they softened with pleasure and looked up at him/them through his lashes. Jesus, were his eyes always that incredible color? “ _So good, so innocent,”_ Peter thought as he moved in 10K’s hot, silky depths and Murphy couldn’t help but agree as he moaned and rocked his hips in time with Peter’s back in his cell. 

“You alright, man?” Murphy vaguely heard the man in his cell ask, and felt a hand suddenly touch his.

“Don’t touch me!” Murphy snarled as he scrambled back into a corner, head nearly touching the floor, trying to hide the how painfully aroused he was. “Don’t fucking touch me!” he hissed, pressing the heel of his hand against his cock to try and relieve the pressure. But the distraction had brought him a moment of clarity. He tried to pull his mind free again, hoping that Peter’s hold on him would be weak since he’s so distracted, but he heard Peter’s laughter in his mind. “ _You can’t leave before the big climax of the evening!”_ And then he heard Peter laugh at his clever play on words. 

“Fuck!” Murphy gasped, as he felt Peter picking up the pace and their orgasms building. 

Peter was panting and scenting 10K’s neck, running his tongue over the throbbing carotid artery. He ran his fingers through 10K’s hair and roughly pulled 10K’s head back and to the side, exposing his throat. _“Look at it, Murphy. Look how the blood races through the carotid artery. The more the victim experiences fear or excitement, the faster the blood pumps, flooding it with oxygen so that it becomes almost effervescent. There’s nothing that compares to the taste, certainly not bagged blood.”_

Murphy watched through Peter’s eyes as the pulse fluttered in 10K’s throat. He could hear the blood singing to him as it raced through the artery, a siren song that called to him. He could smell the sweet, rich scent of 10K blood, and the smell alone was intoxicating him. 

“ _I bet he’s going to taste incredible. What do you think, Murphy?”_ Peter taunted, his fangs poised to strike as he pumped into 10K even faster. 

Murphy’s fangs had also come down and his mouth had flooded with saliva in anticipation. Besides the sweet scent of 10K’s blood, he could also smell the desire pouring off the kid now as the boy’s own feelings had been overridden by the pleasured feelings coming off the two alphas. 

Back in his cell Murphy’s eyes were wild and dark, his teeth bared, jaws parted with the need to sink them into something. _"_ Fuck!" he gasped again, his nails digging into his fisted palms as Peter sank his teeth into 10K’s neck and his own mouth was suddenly flooded with the taste of sweet blood. He bit his own lip hard enough to draw blood. His stomach was clenching with desire, his heart was racing, and he felt like he was about to explode in his pants. This was pleasure beyond pleasure, teetering on the precipice and suddenly plunging over a cliff into a pool of red hot sensation and desire. 

Murphy could taste 10K’s hot blood going down his throat as he continued to pump his hips back in his cell, but it wasn't enough. He needed friction. He clumsily and desperately opened his pants and released his cock from its confines with a strangled sound and started pumping it in his fist in time with Peter’s thrusts. _“10K”_ he moaned, imagining himself fucking the boy. He was close, so close. They all were. 10K was pushing back now, urging them to go faster, mind in a blurry haze of pleasure, caught up in the moment. Murphy sensed 10K’s thoughts, and they were focused on him. 

_“You’re fucking me, not him,”_ he hears 10K think. _“He’s not even here, and this was my choice.”_ 10K focused strictly on Murphy, excluding Peter and allowing himself to enjoy the pleasure that was being shared between the two of them. 

Murphy could feel Peter’s disapproval and felt pride in the kid for finding a way to let Peter know that he doesn’t control him. _“It’s just you and me, kid,”_ Murphy gasped back as their orgasms built. _“God, you feel so good. I’ve wanted you since that day I woke up at the lake and saw you with your hand around my cock.”_

In retaliation to their thoughts, Peter’s thrusts became harder, more punishing, and back in his cell Murphy was mirroring him, pistoning his cock in his hand. 10K could feel Murphy’s climax nearing and started bucking underneath them now like a wild animal, caught up in their combined excitement and seeking his own release. Finally 10K’s back arched almost to the breaking point and he cried out _“Murphy!”_ as he found his release first, and Peter and Murphy’s cries quickly followed, their orgasms wracking their bodies as 10K pulsed around them, milking them both for all they’re worth. 

There was silence for a while as all three recovered, their heartbeats finally slowing back down to normal. Peter withdrew his fangs and his cock from 10K and then stretched like a contented feline, but 10K and Murphy could both feel that he was clearly unhappy about 10K calling out another alpha’s name even while he was supposed to be the one in control. 

“ _And that’s what it’s like being a vampire, Murphy. The power, the control, the sex. Do you really want to stop that?”_ Peter mocked. And then Peter got off the bed and Murphy could feel Peter slip from 10K’s mind as he lost physical contact, but not before he caught a fleeting glimpse of Peter’s last thought. Everything was suddenly eerily quiet. 

Murphy realized he was lying on his side on the cold cement floor, drool and blood leaking from the side of his mouth where he’d bitten his own lip. He still had his hand wrapped around his shriveling cock and signs of his release now painted the floor. He sat up and tucked himself away, still breathing heavily. He looked over at his cellmate, and the man was pressed into a corner as far from him as he could go, looking wide-eyed and terrified. Murphy couldn’t blame him after what he just witnessed. Murphy probably had looked like a man possessed by a demon. The only upside was that he hadn't been caged with any of his own people because that would have been extremely awkward. 

He realized he was still in 10K’s head, and closed his eyes to concentrate. 10K had turned away from Peter and had curled up into a fetal ball while Peter had gone off to the bathroom, presumably to take a shower, whistling merrily as he went, which Murphy could tell had 10K ready to scream. 10K’s feelings and emotions were back to being his own, and Murphy was being bombarded with feelings of anger, humiliation, violation, but the biggest emotion Murphy was feeling was shame. As he continued to sort through 10K’s thoughts he realized that 10K was ashamed because a part of him enjoyed what just happened. 

_“Kid. Hey, kid.”_

_“Get out of my fucking head, Murphy,”_ came the angry reply. 

_“You need to listen to me, and we don’t have a lot of time. You need to get out of there while Peter is in the shower and you need to help us escape this place.”_

_“Get yourself out,”_ 10K thought, his mind sinking into the depths of a dark depression. Murphy could see parts of the rape replaying over and over in 10K’s head as he inflicted a form of self-punished on himself for enjoying it. Murphy needed to try a different tact. He needed to get the kid good and angry. 

_“You know what I read in Peter’s mind right before he pulled out of your head? Peter intends to get himself all nice and clean and prettied up, and then he’s going to drag you naked downstairs, pulling you past all the cells so everyone in the group can see you, and then he’s going to stand in front of Doc’s cage and flaunt what he did to you. He wants Doc to see you looking totally wrecked with the evidence of what he did to you running down your legs. Can you imagine what that will do to Doc? It will destroy him. Is that what you want?”_

He could feel the anger building now. Good. He pressed his advantage. 

_“Listen, kid, Peter didn’t just rape your body, he raped your mind as well. He took away your free will and replaced it with his own feelings. You had no control over what you felt, and I know you’re feeling guilty about that. I was there too, remember, and he forced me to participate in a way. I didn’t want to experience you getting raped, and instead I ended up experiencing it from both sides. And I enjoyed it. And right now I’m horrified about that because of the fact that he was able to control me like that and force me to do something I didn’t want to do, and now it kind of feels like I raped you myself, and that he raped me at the same time. I feel so screwed up right now I don’t know what to do with all these feelings._

_“I’m going to lay a hard truth on you right now, kid. This is the apocalypse and bad shit happens every single day, day-in and day-out. Get over it and move on. It could have been worse; I mean at least you enjoyed it.”_

_“You goddamn sonofabitch!”_ And as 10K’s anger exploded, Murphy was suddenly bombarded with every profanity the kid knew thrown at him mentally, and he was frankly impressed with the kid’s wide range of colorful phrases. 10K hated him at this minute, but he’d rather have 10K angry than despondent. He fueled that anger further. 

_“Do you hear him in there? He’s whistling! He’s happy. He’s looking forward to rubbing what he did in Doc’s face. Are you really going to let him do that to that sweet old man?_

_“Right now you and I are the only ones that know what happened here, and I’m certainly not going to tell anyone, but if you let him drag you downstairs past all those cages, then everyone will know what he did to you, and he wins._

_“This may be our only chance to escape. We’re all in deep shit right now and this may be the only chance we have to get out of here because you’re free right now. But once they stick you back in a cage, that’s it, window of opportunity closed. If you read his mind like I did, then you know he plans to kill me. After he found out that I may contain the key to a cure for vampirism, he considers me a threat and plans to dispose of me right after breaking his father. He’ll probably go ahead and kill Cassandra too. So if you want that on your conscience, just lie there and feel sorry for yourself. Quite frankly I thought you had bigger balls than that despite being an omega, but maybe you just have little tiny cotton balls.”_

_“Enough!_ 10K thought, sitting up and feeling furious right now. But it felt good. He wanted payback, and if he could help free everyone in that basement, Peter would be furious and know that 10K had had the last laugh. 

_“Now you’re talking, kid!”_ Murphy thought. _“Now get dressed and get that cute little ass of yours down here and free us!”_

10K got up and quickly wiped himself off with the sheet, getting angrier by the minutes. He quickly threw his clothes on, and saw his knife lying on the floor. He stared at it for a few seconds, and then picked it up and gripped it in his hand, looking toward the shower. 

_“Don’t even think about it!”_ Murphy warned. _“You’ve got one chance at getting us out of here, and that’s not the way. There’s no way you overpower him and stick him with that thing. You just experienced how strong he is! And if you just manage to wound him, he’ll just heal.”_

10K knew he was right, but the hatred burning through him and the urge to try and kill Peter was almost overwhelming. 

_“Think of the others,”_ Murphy said quickly, trying to derail 10K from that plan of action. _“Warren, Garnett, Doc, Addy, Mack, Cassandra, me. We all need you. You’re our only hope.”_

That seemed to sway him. Taking a deep, shuttering breath, 10K turned toward the exit door and opened it cautiously. He was surprised to see no one around. Apparently Peter felt safe up in this little kingdom of his. 

_“You remember the way?”_ Murphy asked, prompting him to move. 

_“Yeah, two floors down in the basement,”_ 10K thinks, moving faster as the thought of getting one up on Peter and getting his revenge drives him on. 

10K only had to duck around a corner once as he heard voices, but the way to the basement was relatively clear. The vampires clearly didn’t see humans as any kind of threat. 10K smiled at the thought of showing them just how wrong they were. 

The keys to the cells were hanging on the wall at the entrance, making that part of it easy. There seemed to be two master keys that opened all the iron prisons, and other keys that opened the rooms where they kept the ones they separated out for breeding and draining. 

_“Where are you?”_ 10K thought, and immediately saw an arm stick through the bars waving up and down. _“Here! I’m over here.”_

_“Okay, I see you. I’m on my way.”_ 10K felt Murphy slip out of his head then and was surprised to feel a brief twinge of loneliness. 

10K freed Murphy, and then quickly searched out his people to release first. Doc was the second one they came upon, and when Doc saw 10K and Murphy, his face went from despondency into a relieved smile and he said, “How in the world did you two manage to escape?” 

“No time for that now, old man,” Murphy interceded. 

Unfortunately when the people in other cages saw others being freed, they started calling out for them to free them as well, which 10K had planned to do to create pandemonium and help with their escape, but with the noise they were making they were going to draw the vampires down here before that could be done. 

He handed out keys to others in his group and they split up, trying to release as many people as they could, but they’d only freed about half when they heard the sound of voices, and those voices were coming from both ends of the hall. The vampires would be able to box them in and get them back in their cells quickly. 

“We don’t have any weapon!” Charlie said. “We’ll just be sitting ducks with no way to fight back!” 

The people they had freed had been milling around as if awaiting instructions, but as soon as they heard the vampires coming they started to panic, screaming and running helter-skelter, knocking each other over. Then the group heard the screams intensify and knew that the cattle prods were being applied. 

“We’re trapped!” Addy said. 

“I saw an alcove with a couple of doors, and one said ‘Subbasement’ on it,” 10K said. 

“Then let’s go,” Warren said. 

10K quickly tossed his key into one of the cells that they hadn’t had time to open, hoping that the occupants would hide it and try to free everyone again once the guards were gone. He led the group to the small alcove located in the middle of the room. Just then they heard a voice screaming from one end of the hallway louder than the others, “WHERE’S MY BABY!” and they recognized the voice as Serena. 

“That woman is a force to be reckoned with,” Addy said. 

“I was gonna say she’s scary as hell,” Murphy said. 

“Well, she’ll keep them occupied for a minute while we get the hell out of here,” Warren said. 

There were two doors in the alcove. 

“What’s this other door?” Warren said, opening it. 

It turned out to be the weapons room where the vampires kept all their weapons. The group looked around excitedly for something lethal they could use, but all they found were cattle prods, dart guns, and guns loaded with rubber bullets. Still, it was better than nothing. 

“Hey,” Charlie said, examining two M-16’s and checking the clips. “These both have live ammo. They must keep a couple of lethal ones as a last resort.” He handed one off to Warren and kept the other. The rest of the group grabbed one of the nonlethal weapons. 

“Should we stand and fight?” Mack asked. “You can mow them down with those things,” he said, indicating the M-16’s. 

“Can’t,” Addy said, speaking up. “There are too many people in the way. They’ll get shot too.” 

“She’s right,” Charlie said. “We’ll try the subbasement. This was a factory, so maybe there’s some type of door they used for loading and unloading that leads to the outside. If we can get out of here, maybe we can get help from the sheriff or the townspeople to help free the rest of the people.” 

“What if the sheriff’s in on it?” 10K asked, thinking back to how they were all disarmed when they entered the town, how they were made to feel welcome and given free drinks at the bar and then encouraged to go to this place and trade their blood. The more he thought about it, the more he thought that the whole town was probably in on it. Or maybe just certain key players. 

“If the sheriff is in on it, we have these now,” Warren said, holding up her M-16 with a determined look on her face. 

The screams were getting closer which meant the vampires were getting closer. They opened the subbasement door and it was pitch black. They found a light switch on the outside next to the door, and when Doc flipped the switch, lights came on. They quickly ran down a set of old wooden stairs and looked around the cavernous subbasement. The subbasement was huge but there wasn’t much down there. It looked like someone had installed a few fluorescent lights, replacing the original lighting, which appeared to have been a few lightbulbs spaced throughout, but nothing else seemed to have been done to modernize it, which told Charlie that the subbasement probably wasn’t used for anything other than storage. There were a few pieces of large, older equipment scattered around that were covered with dust and looked like they should be in a museum, but not much else. 

They made their way toward one end of the subbasement, but still hadn’t come across anything that looked like a door. They did see several large objects ahead. 

“What are these?” 10K asked, touching one. It was about 12 feet high, oblong in shape, and the outside was black with a smooth, bumpy surface. 

“These, my young friend, are cast iron boilers,” Charlie said. “You see the pipes running from the tops up through the floor? These would have been used to heat large quantities of water to send upstairs. Remember Conrad telling us this used to be a candy factory? The hot water these provided would have been used to heat the vats upstairs to melt chocolate and caramel in order to make the candy. Nowadays they make these out of steel, but back when this factory was built they made them out of this heavy cast iron. They don’t make them like this anymore,” he said, rubbing the outside of one affectionately. 

Charlie’s musings were cut off when they heard the thunder of feet coming down the wooden stairs. “We’re out of time,” he said. 

“So, just shoot them!” Murphy said, indicating his and Roberta’s guns. 

Charlie’s heart dropped when he saw the vampires approaching. Not only were there a lot of them, but they were now wearing bullet proof vests and helmets. 

“Where the hell did they get those?” Warren asked, looking as disconcerted as Charlie felt. 

“Peter seems to have planned for every contingency,” Charlie said. “He is one smart vampire.” 

“So we make a stand?” she said. 

Charlie’s mind was currently racing, considering and discarding different scenarios. His mind kept going back to one scenario, the only one that stood a chance of getting his team out of here. If the vampires captured them this time, there would be no second chances. They might even end up in the draining room. Nodding to himself and making peace with his decision he said, “I have a plan.” 

“Well let’s hear it?” Murphy said. “Because from what I’m seeing, we’re up Shit’s Creek without a paddle.” 

“I need everybody to get inside this boiler,” he said, turning the wheel that locked the door, much like the door in a submarine. As he opened the door he was relieved to see that there was only a few inches of rusty water inside. These boilers hadn’t been used since the factory closed down. “Everybody in,” he said, waving them on to get them moving. 

“Why do you want us to get inside the boiler?” Roberta asked, worry in her voice. 

“Do you trust me?” Charlie asked, putting his hands on her shoulders. 

“You know I do,” she said, looking into his eyes and not liking what she was seeing. 

“Then you know I’ll always do what’s best for the team. And right now, this is what’s best, I promise you.” 

“No!” she said with a tinge of desperation. “I say we make a stand and shoot it out with them.” 

“Roberta, we’re outmatched and outnumbered. We only have 20 bullets each and there are at least 40 of them headed this way and they’re wearing vests and helmets. We can’t win that way, but we can win my way. My way will save us.” 

“All of us?” she asked meaningfully. 

He looked down. He could lie to her but she would see right through it. Looking back up he said, “We have a mission to complete, and that mission is priority number one. Nothing else matters but the mission. Do you understand me, soldier?” he said, squeezing her shoulders. 

“Charlie…” 

“Do-you-understand-me, Lieutenant?” 

“Yes, sir,” she said woodenly. 

“Then get inside the boiler and trust that what I’m doing is the best thing for the mission,” he said. “Because if Peter wins this round, the mission will be over.” 

She took a deep breath and nodded, then got inside the boiler. He closed the door to the boiler but didn’t lock it. He didn’t want them trapped inside. 

“The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one,” he said softly, quoting a favorite line from a Star Trek movie. The people inside this boiler were his world since the apocalypse took his wife and daughter. They were the people he lived with, traveled with, ate with, slept with, argued with, laughed with, fought alongside of, and even loved. They were his apocalyptic family, and he would burn in hell before he let anyone harm his family. He put his back against the door and waited. 

Trying to look relaxed, he pointed the muzzle of his gun toward the floor so he would look nonthreatening and they wouldn’t just shoot him outright. “Just a little bit closer,” he said softly, hoping to god his plan worked. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only one chapter left. Think you know how it'll end? Join me next week to find out.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter.

Charlie kept his body language relaxed and the M-16 pointed at the ground in an effort to appear as nonthreatening as possible as he watched the vampires closing in on him, surrounding him, cutting off any avenue of escape, which was fine as he had no intentions of escaping. He felt remarkably calm, having made peace with his decision. 

The vampires stopped when they were about 15 feet away from him, and just when Charlie was getting ready to carry out his plan, Peter suddenly appeared from within the group and advanced toward him. He wasn’t wearing any of the protective gear the others were wearing, apparently secure in the fact that his people would protect him. 

“That’s far enough,” Charlie said, raising the muzzle of the M-16 so that it was pointing right at him, inciting an angry chorus of muttering from the surrounding vampires at the threat to their leader. Peter simply raised a hand, silencing them, and gave Charlie a patronizing look. 

“Did you really think that you could escape us?” he said, shaking his head and smiling at Charlie indulgently, like he was speaking to a naughty child. “Foolish human. And just what are you planning to do with that?” he asked, his eyes flicking down with amusement to the M-16. “Are you actually going to try and shoot all of us with your gun? You will eventually run out of bullets, and all you will have accomplished is to enrage a group vampires who would love nothing more than to rip you apart and feast on your blood, which I would actually take great pleasure watching. After that, it’s just a simple matter of recapturing your friends and returning them to their cages so that they can be farmed out for their blood until their bodies are eventually used up. I will have to kill Murphy, of course, to end this foolish hope for a cure.” 

Charlie frowned. How the hell had Peter found out about that? 

“You see,” Peter said, “I like what I am. We all do,” he said amidst the vigorous nods and ‘yeahs’ from his fellow vampires. “What you call a virus, we call the next step in evolution. I think this virus, as you call it, swept through the earth’s population and selectively chose the more _worthy_ humans to elevate, turning them into something new, something better, a higher life form, the apex predators in a new world order, and it culled out the less worthy humans, such as you and your people, leaving them as nothing more than fodder, their sole purpose in life to maintain our dietary needs.” 

“Did you know,” Charlie said calmly, “that many people are under the false impression that the lion is the king of beasts because he has fangs and claws and he hunts and eats other animals, all the while exuding this predatory confidence? But he’s really not the king. You see, the elephant is actually the king. Oh, he may not seem like it because he’s peaceful and laid back, and as a vegetarian he doesn’t feel the need to kill other animals. But if a lion or any other predator were to threaten his family, he would stomp them right into the ground. You see, Peter, you may be a lion with your fangs and claws and your predatory confidence, but I’m an elephant, and I’m not about to let my family be killed or enslaved by the likes of you or your kind, no matter how elevated you seem to think you are.” 

“And just how do you intend to stop me,” Peter said, suddenly intrigued by this human standing so boldly against such overwhelming odds. He admitted to being curious to hear what this man had to say. “Just how do you intend to…stomp me into the ground?” 

Charlie tilted his head back and looked up at the ceiling. 

“Oh, please,” Peter said with disbelief. “Don’t tell me you think that if you pray to your God that he will save you? I did not take you for a fool.” 

“No,” Charlie said, looking back at him. “I believe that God helps those who help themselves, and, therefore I make my own destiny.” 

“And just what is your destiny? Other than to be my dinner tonight, that is,” Peter said smiling, showing his fangs to try and intimidate this man. He was growing excited by this human. Everyone usually bowed and scraped and trembled before him, and it was refreshing to have someone stand up to him and challenge him like this. He decided he wanted to recapture this man alive. Maybe he would use him like he’d used the boy. He was an attractive man, and it would be exciting to subjugate him and break his spirit before he killed him, and then describe the details to his father and the rest of his group. He licked his lips, feeling himself growing aroused by the mere thought of it. 

“My destiny,” Charlie said, oblivious to Peter's thoughts, “is to help bring about a cure that will reverse the effects of the virus and end vampirism once and for all so that the world can go back to the way it was. Your kind are only a temporary boil on the backside of humanity.” 

Peter laughed, thoroughly enjoying this man’s moxie. There were so few humans, or vampires for that matter, who he found interesting these days, which meant that his life could often be quite dull. This man would provide a welcome respite from that, albeit a brief one. “And, pray tell, just how do you plan on accomplishing this incredible feat before I order my people to recapture you and your friends and herd you all back into your cages, like the naughty little sheep that you are?” 

Charlie looked up again. “You see those pipes running across the ceiling there? Those are gas pipes brought down here in order to heat water in these big old boilers that would in turn send hot water upstairs to heat vats in order to melt the chocolate and caramel for the candy this factory used to make.” 

Peter looked up at the pipes now and frowned. “That’s all very interesting, but—” He froze as he looked back at Charlie and saw that the man was smiling at him now, and it was a smile that Peter knew well. It was the smile of a wolf hiding in sheep’s clothing who only shows his true face when he’s about to go for your throat and knows that there’s nothing you can do to stop it. A look of horror came over Peter’s face when he noticed that the man now had the gun pointed at the ceiling, and he suddenly realized what he was about to do. He also realized that he had badly underestimated this human. 

“Like I said,” Charlie continued in that same deceptively calm voice, still smiling, “I make my own destiny, not you, and this is me stomping you into the ground. Good-bye, Peter.” 

“Get him! KILL HIM!!” Peter screamed as he turned and tried to flee, pushing aside his own people in an effort to get through them. 

As the vampires converged, Charlie felt a sense of calm go through him. His people would survive and Operation Bitemark would continue on without him under Warren’s leadership, and he had all the confidence in the world in her. He let loose a spray of gunfire across the ceiling until a bullet found its mark. As a blinding flash of light spread from the point of impact, Charlie’s thoughts were swept back to a night when he and Warren had pulled all-night guard duty back at Camp Blue Sky. It had been a long, exhausting night, but he hadn’t cared because she was with him. Then the two of them had sat by the lake and watched the sun rise together, and as the sun had cleared the horizon it had bathed her skin in hues of gold and bronze, and that’s when he first realized that he was in love with her. His only regret was that he had never told her. “I love you, Roberta,” he said out loud out before everything erupted, and then he was following a white light down a long tunnel. He stopped when he spotted two figures at the end of the tunnel who were waving at him, and he realized that it was his wife and daughter, their expressions rapturous. He started laughing as he ran to them and embraced them both tightly. He felt lighter as he was awash in feelings of total peace and tranquility, and suddenly all his earthly cares and worries dissolved away like smoke, leaving nothing behind to occupy his mind but love and family. 

Charlie was finally home. 

Roberta had had her ear pressed to the door of the boiler trying to follow what was going on outside when she heard the sound of gunfire. The explosion that followed rocked the boiler, and she fell backwards to the floor as the ground continued to shake like they were in the midst of an earthquake. She got up and looked around briefly to make sure everyone was all right, and then raced back toward the door. “Charlie!” she yelled, pushing at the door, but closed it immediately when she was hit with a blast of hot, smoky air that had her coughing. 

“You all right?” Doc said, running to her and making sure she wasn’t hurt. He placed his hand on the door and it was warm to the touch but not hot, which was good. The thick walls of the boiler were protecting them from the heat, which Charlie would have known. “We’re all right in here, but we need to stay put with the door closed until things cool off a bit out there,” he said sadly. 

“Charlie—” Roberta said, sinking to her knees, tears starting to trail down her face. 

“He saved us,” Addy said numbly as she realized what had just happened. She went over and sank down next to Warren and put her arms around her and wept alongside her. “He saved us all. He saved the mission.” 

“But even more than that, he purged this town of the parasites that were controlling it,” Cassandra said, kneeling down and trying to offer her support as well. “All those people that they have been trapping and feeding off of for who knows how long, and nobody was helping them. Charlie’s a real hero.” 

10K saw Doc turn away, looking anguished. They had heard Peter’s voice out there, and Doc had no doubt realized that his son was also dead. 10K was sorry that Charlie was dead. He was a good man and had always treated him well and never treated him like a kid. In a lot of ways he reminded him of his pa and he would miss him. But he couldn’t help the feeling of relief that washed over him knowing that Charlie had taken Peter with him. 10K looked over at Murphy and Murphy nodded at him as if he knew what he was thinking. 

The gang stood around in the boiler for what felt like forever mourning their fallen comrade before Mack touched the door and said that it felt cooler to the touch. He opened the door gingerly and some smoke trickled in, but the air was warm, not hot. As Mack pushed the door open further they could see light in the room, and when they looked up, a large portion of the floor above them had been blasted away when the gas pipes exploded. The smoky air was being drawn out through the hole, so the air wasn’t too bad to breathe. 

Roberta was looking around as if expecting to see Charlie’s body, but he and the vampires had been vaporized. “I loved you too, Charlie,” she said tearfully, having heard his last words. “I’m sorry I never told you.” 

“Let’s hope the stairs we came down are still standing,” Mack said; “otherwise we’re going to have to find another way out of here.” 

They made their way through the hot ash and debris and were surprised to see that the stairs were still intact due to the fact that they were shielded from the blast by a cinderblock wall. 

“I hope all the people got out,” 10K said. “I tossed my key in one of the cages, so hopefully those folks unlocked all the cages while the vampires were down here dealing with us.” 

When they reached the basement level they were relieved to see that the cages were all empty, which was good because part of the floor beneath many of them had been blown away and parts of the building were on fire. 

They covered their mouth and noses with shirts and bandanas and made their way quickly up to the main floor and found their way back out through _The Trading Post_. 

“I wonder what happened to Dr. Kurian,” Murphy said as they exited the building. “I bet that sneaky bastard escaped.” 

Outside, the town was in turmoil. There were townspeople and the caged victims milling around, some looking angry, others looking confused or stunned while they watched the factory burning. 

The group was getting a lot of attention now as they exited the building sweaty and covered in ash. 

“What happened? What have you done?” Conrad, the barkeep asked, running toward them. 

“We freed this town from the vampires,” Addy said. 

“You’ve destroyed us!” he said angrily. 

Roberta hauled off and punched him. She was still feeling raw from Charlie’s death and was in no mood for anyone’s bullshit. “They’ve been preying on people for who knows how long, and you’ve let them!” she shouted. “They had people locked in cages in there, feeding on them, and they were not there willingly! They were raping women, forcing them to bear their children! They were draining people!” 

“You’re lying!” Conrad said from the ground where he was nursing a split lip. “They were our friends! They wouldn’t do that! They saved this town!” 

“Then where do you think all these people came from then?” she asked, pointing to the pale, bedraggled looking victims. 

“She’s right,” one woman spoke up. “I came to town about a month ago with my husband to do a little trading, and they drugged us and locked us up. They separated us and I haven’t seen my husband since,” she said angrily. “They fed off me every few days,” she added, pulling her collar aside and showing multiple bite marks to the crowd. “And I can assure you I wasn’t there willingly!” 

There were now angry murmurs from the townspeople. They apparently had not been in on it. However …

10K spotted the Sheriff and his deputies approaching, and he suddenly felt his blood boil. He walked right up to one of the deputies, the one who had winked at him when he had handed over his gun, the same gun that the deputy currently had slung over his shoulder. 

10K smiled up at the deputy before cocking his right fist back and landing a brutal right cross to the man’s jaw that sent him sprawling, and the man wasn’t getting up anytime soon. 

“Well look at you, slugger,” Murphy said, walking up next to him and looking impressed. 

“That felt really good,” 10K said. “I should punch people more often.” 

“Well get along with your bad self,” Murphy said as he watched 10K retrieve his gun from the deputy and show it to the rest of the group. 

“So,” Warren said, walking up to the Sheriff, “is there some reason you didn’t think we would be back to retrieve our weapons?” she asked, looking pointedly down at Charlie’s gun, which was currently tucked into the sheriff’s waistband. 

“Uh, no, not at all,” he said, looking around nervously at the townspeople, who were listening in and looking at him suspiciously now. “I just thought you good folks had decided to stay when I didn’t see you leave.” 

“Considering we’ve been in this town less than 12 hours,” she said, stalking toward him as he backed away from her, “it seems kind of strange to me that you had already deduced that we were staying.” 

“Uh…” 

Warren didn’t wait for his answer. She coldcocked him right where he stood. 

“That’s two,” she said, looking at the other deputy who dropped Addy’s V-whacker and turned tail and ran when he saw the redhead starting toward him. 

“I need a drink,” Warren said, but then she froze as a hush fell over the crowd and she saw everyone staring at something behind her. She turned around and her blood turned cold. “Oh…my…god!” she said. 

Peter was standing there, recognizable only by his blue eyes, which were blazing at them from a face that was blackened with burns. His whole body was, in fact, charred, although Warren did see small patches of pink here and there where his body was already hard at work trying to repair the damage. If he were human though, he would be dead. 

“You ruined everything!” he shouted, clearly enraged. 

“Maybe for you, but we saved everyone else,” Roberta shot back. “Everyone but Charlie, that is, a mere human who sacrificed his life to defeat you,” she said triumphantly, even as her face twisted in pain as the image of Charlie’s sweet smiling face came to her. 

“You didn’t save anyone,” he sneered. “I’ll heal and I’ll rebuild somewhere else. It still doesn’t change the fact that you’re all nothing but livestock and I will outlive you all!” 

“Son…” Doc said, looking at Peter with anguish, but Peter cut him off, giving his father a contemptuous look. 

“You’ve been out of my life for over 20 years and then you have to come here and bring these people and ruin everything,” he spat. “I was happy until you showed up. Well, I’ve got something to tell you,” he said, glancing over at 10K, and 10K’s heart leapt into his throat as he realized that Peter was going to tell him. He was going tell Doc what he did to him, and everyone would hear and know what happened. 10K was just starting to raise his rifle, praying that Doc would forgive him, but then Murphy was suddenly in his head. _“Let me handle this, kid. My way will be better, I promise.”_

10K hesitated, his hatred of Peter battling his desire to trust Murphy, but then he read Murphy’s intent and lowered his rifle. Murphy was right, this would be better. 

Murphy had snuck up behind Peter, and just as Peter opened his mouth, ready to spill the beans and humiliate 10K and break his father’s heart, Murphy dropped his fangs and buried them in the side of Peter’s charred neck. 

Everyone gasped in shock, except 10K. He just watched. And smiled. 

Murphy withdrew his teeth. 

Peter put his hand to his neck, looking stunned. “What did you do! What the hell did you do to me?!” he screamed, looking panicked now.

Peter went down to his knees, and he was trembling. He started throwing up blood, and when he was finished he started moaning in pain. “It hurts. Oh god, it hurts so bad!” 

“That’s because you’re human now,” Murphy said dispassionately, and it was then that the rest of the gang realized what he had done. 

“No! No! I can’t be! I won’t heal now! I need a vampire to bite me!” he pleaded. 

“It won’t work,” 10K said, walking up to him. “Once Murphy turns you human, you’re immune to the vampire virus. Per-man-ent-ly,” he said with satisfaction, drawing out the word. 

There were excited murmurs all around them at this news, but Peter looked devastated. He looked between Murphy and 10K. “You!” he spat. “You two did this to me!” and his eyes were blazing with anger and hatred. 

“Uh, yeah, we sure did,” Murphy said calmly. “I guess evolution’s a fickle bitch,” he said, apparently having overheard what Peter said to Charlie. 

Peter fell over onto his side then and started convulsing. It was obvious he was in terrible pain. Doc went down on his knees, cradling his son tenderly in his arms. He had been silent during his son’s tirade, but there were tears trickling down his face now. 

“I’m here, son. I’m here,” he said, not knowing how to comfort his son while he died an agonizing death. 

Peter stopped convulsing and looked up at him with eyes that looked so much like his own, except for the hatred still blazing in them. 10K saw it and gave Murphy a panicked look. The sadistic bastard was still going to hurt his father even as he lay dying. Murphy took a couple of steps back, out of view of the sharp-eyed Warren, and then closed his eyes. 

“I want to tell you something…father,” Peter spat out, ready to shatter his father with his dying breath. 

“You can tell me anything you want, son,” Doc said. “Call me a bastard, tell me what a rotten father I was. I deserve it all,” he said, his face a mask of anguish. 

“What I want to tell you is—“ But then Peter’s expression changed. His eyes widened in surprise, and then he said, “What I want to tell you, dad, is that I forgive you. It just hurt me that I didn’t see you all those years. I thought you didn’t love me anymore. But I never stopped loving you.” 

Murphy silently mouthed the words that Peter was saying. He couldn’t enter the mind of a vampire, but Peter wasn’t a vampire any longer, he was human, and Murphy was not going to let this petty little fucker destroy 10K and Doc with his dying breath. 

Doc’s eyes widened with surprise, and then a look of anguished joy came over his face as tears poured down his weathered face. “I never stopped loving you either, son. And I swear to you that I thought about you all the time.” 

10K had watched Murphy’s lips move as Peter spoke and knew what he was doing. Peter now knew what it felt like to be mind-raped and forced to do something against your will. It was a fitting end really. Peter had fucked them both, but they had fucked him right back in the end. And thanks to Murphy, no one else would ever know what Peter had done to him. 

10K adjusted the bandana around his neck that was hiding the telltale bite marks as he watched Peter gasping and trembling. It wouldn’t be long now; his organs were shutting down. It looked like he was trying to speak, but nothing was coming out of his mouth. Murphy wasn’t allowing it. 

“I love you, son,” Doc cried, as Peter’s eyes finally fluttered shut and his body went limp. 

10K let out a breath he hadn’t realize he’d been holding. He looked over at Murphy and gave him a small nod of approval. Murphy walked up to him and stood barely a foot away from him and softly said, “See, I’m not a total prick once you get to know me.” 

10K didn’t move away. Instead he took a small step closer so that they were toe to toe and looked up at Murphy and said, “Well, it’s still a long way to California, so I suppose that’ll give me plenty of time to see for myself whether that’s true or not. You may turn out to have some redeeming qualities.” And then he smiled. A genuine, honest to goodness smile that lit up his face like the sun coming out on a cloudy day and made Murphy’s heart skip a beat. Murphy hadn’t even been sure the kid had teeth up until this point. Then the kid turned and walked away, glancing back at him once over his shoulder. 

Murphy felt a shift in their relationship. A bond had formed between them due to the traumatic event that they had both shared and Murphy hoped that that bond could be cultivated and possibly grow into something more. 

“I’m sorry about your son, Doc,” Warren said, kneeling next to him, “but we need to go,” she said, helping him up. 

“It’s alright,” he said, taking out his bandana and wiping his face. “The apocalypse changes people, some for the better, some for the worse. His mother turned him against me a long time ago, but I got him back there at the end.” 

“Well I think we both could use a drink or ten before we put this town in our rearview mirror,” she said, getting him moving. 

He just nodded, looking down at his son’s body one more time before they pulled him away. 

The gang headed toward _The Watering Hole_ , but they had gone no more than twenty steps when they heard screams, and people were running past them, looking terrified. 

_“What now?”_ Roberta thought tiredly. All she wanted to do right now was to get drunk and try to dull the rawness of the pain she was feeling over Charlie’s death. 

The gang turned around and froze in horror and shock. 

Peter was standing back up, but his eyes now looked opaque, and there was black blood leaking from his mouth. He was moving toward them with a jerky sort of movement and making growling sounds. 

A shot rang out and Peter fell backward, a bullet hole dead center in his forehead. The gang all looked at 10K.

 _“1,266,”_ 10K thought, but didn’t say it out loud. He lowered his rifle. He felt a certain satisfaction in knowing that they had killed Peter not once, but twice, and that he himself had been the instrument of his final demise. Peter would not be getting back up a third time. He looked over at Murphy and Murphy gave him an almost imperceptible nod, which he returned. 

“Okay, let me get this straight,” Warren said, rounding on Murphy. “You can turn a vampire back into a human, but then when they die THEY TURN INTO A GODDAMN ZOMBIE!!” she yelled. “Oh, hell no!” 

“I didn’t know!” Murphy said defensively, looking just as surprised as everyone else. 

"And just when the hell were you going to tell us that you grew a set of fangs?" 

"Oh, that. Um, well, I, um... You see, I, um..." 

“Let’s ALL go get a drink,” Addy said, putting her arm around Warren and leading her back toward the bar with the gang trailing along looking shell shocked. 

“Shall we?” 10K said, coming up to stand next to Murphy and looking at him expectantly. 

“Yeah, I could definitely use a drink,” Murphy said, giving the kid an affectionate look. “Maybe it will wash out this bad taste I seem to have in my mouth from biting into an asshole.” 

10K’s eyes grew round in surprise, and then he started laughing and couldn’t seem to stop. Murphy laughed along with him. They set off for the bar behind the others side by side, both of them still laughing. 

Addy glanced back and saw Murphy and 10K walking side by side looking totally relaxed with each other and laughing, and she shook her head, frowning. “Anyone notice that something seems to have changed between those two?” she said, motioning behind her with her head. 

“Yes…” Cassandra said. 

“No…” Mack said. Both at the same time. 

“Well, does anyone know how they escaped in the first place?” Addy asked. 

“No,” Roberta said, “but we still have over 2,000 miles to California to hear all about it. But I’m definitely gonna need a drink first.” 

Several hours and many, many shots of whiskey later, they were back on the road driving through the night and putting Harmony far behind them. 10K had had the foresight to grab a couple containers of gas from _The Trading Post_ as they were escaping the burning building, so they were good for another few hundred miles. Mack was currently driving as he had remained relatively sober, and Addy was dozing next to him. Murphy, 10K and Cassandra were in the back seat. Warren and Doc had both had WAY too much to drink and had passed out, and both were current tucked away safely in the truck bed where they could sleep it off in blissful oblivion until tomorrow when they would be feeling the aftereffects of both their overindulgence and their grief. 

Murphy was exhausted and slightly buzzed, but he couldn’t seem to shut his mind off. It kept going over the events of everything that had happened to him since he had woken from the coma and found himself with this group. He was still a long way from California and the answers that Dr. Merch would hopefully provide as to what was happening to him, but glancing at the sleeping boy next to him, who had his head resting on his shoulder, he had to admit there were worse ways he could be spending his days and worse company he could be spending them with. 

His eyes moved down to the boy’s throat seemingly of their own volition, and he suppressed a moan as the scent of the kid’s blood came to his nostrils like sweet perfume. He could suddenly hear the kid’s pulse beating in his ears as the blood pumped through the boy’s veins. He spotted Peter’s fang marks on the kid’s neck and jerked his head back as he realized that he had been unconsciously lowering his mouth toward the kid’s throat. 

He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, taking deep breaths to try and slow his heart, which was now pounding in his chest. He pushed his tongue against his fangs, which were now down and poking into his lower lip, a constant reminder of how hungry he currently was. But not hungry for food. He also couldn’t stop the unwanted memories coming to him of when he was in 10K’s head and had shared Peter’s consciousness as the vampire had bitten into 10K’s throat and sucked on it like a juicy peach while moving inside the kid’s body. 

Murphy banished those thoughts quickly, shifting the front of his pants uncomfortably before sighing and then leaning over and rearranging 10K’s bandana so that it was covering the teeth marks. 10K stirred in his sleep and then woke looking confused and frightened. “Wha—?!” he said. 

“Shhh, you’re okay,” Murphy whispered, quieting the boy before he woke up Cassandra. “I was just rearranging your bandana. Go back to sleep. I’ll keep you safe, I promise,” he said, putting his arm around the boy and pulling his head back against his shoulder. After a couple of minutes he felt 10K’s body relax against him as the boy dozed back off. 

Murphy sincerely hoped that he could keep his promise to keep the kid safe. 

Especially from himself. 

Yummm... What vampire could resist? 

\- THE END OF V-NATION S1 –

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so ends my story. I hope you enjoyed it and that I was able to occasionally amuse you, surprise you, and even shock you. I gave you vampire nuns, the meat wagon, interesting ways to wake up a person in a coma, a penis museum, and even a zombie twist there at the end! My thanks to all of you who kudo'd my story, and an extra special thank you to those of you who took the time to leave me a comment. Your comments were the best and they really kept me going! An extra extra special thank you to Nadexy and Cocoa788, two readers who don’t even follow this fandom but followed me here and read my story anyway. Love you guys! Until next time, this is EvilAdmin signing out.


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